PB July-August 2023 July-August 2023 9
When it was put to Farrelly that he is politically “closely
associated with the Minister” who is responsible for
authorising IIP applicants and asked whether he had had
any discussions with her or officials of the Department
(in relation to the application under the IIP scheme),
he replied: “This discussion is over”
T
he Minister for Justice, Helen
McEntee, has declined to confirm if
she approved an application by
Chinese funders who were granted
Irish visas in return for a €1.6 million
donation used last year to purchase a nursing
home part-owned by her close political ally,
J V Farrelly.
Farrelly is also a director of Kilmainhamwood
Area Development Association (KADA), a
charity which runs a retirement village in
Meath and which last year purchased the
nearby nursing home run by Mowlam
Healthcare for €1.6 million using money
provided by Chinese funders under the
Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP), which
was abruptly halted in February, 2023. Farrelly
is an auctioneer and a former TD and councillor
in county Meath. He is a co-founder of KADA
and was part owner of the nursing home when
it was purchased by the charity using Chinese
investor funds last year.
Department ocials said they did not
comment on individual IIP applications, when
Village in early June asked whether the
Minister had personally approved the
application by “KADA or any associated
persons or vehicle for investment in
purchasing a nursing home at Kilmainham, Co
Meath, during her time in oce?”.
The Department does not comment on
individual applications to the IIP, a
Department spokesperson told Village.
Farrelly said he could not identify the
investors. “Ive no idea who they are. I wasn’t
NEWS
Did minister approve visa
for Chinese investor that
beneted close political ally?
Charity founded by close ally of Helen McEntee,
Minister for Justice, obtained €1.6 million from
discredited Immigrant Investor Programme
By Frank Connolly
dealing with them”, he said. “We found them
through a solicitor. They were Chinese people.
I don’t know them”. Farrelly has visited China
on a number of occasions [see box on page 12].
Farrelly was among the owners of the
nursing home before it was purchased by the
charity. The ‘visa for investment’ scheme,
which was abruptly closed in February this
year over concerns about the source and
distribution of some of the €1.2 billion in cash
10 July-August 2023 July-August 2023 11
it has raised, is run by the Department of
Justice and applications are approved by the
minister.
Section 20 of the Immigration Act 2004
grants the Minister power to make visa
regulations but, when launching the
Immigrant Investor Programme, in 2012 Alan
Shatter expressly said no legislation was
necessary for it as it was covered by existing
Ministerial discretions. There are guidelines
which were introduced in 2012 and amended
in 2019. They provide that an Evaluation
Committee composed of senior ocials from
relevant Irish Government Departments and
Irish State Agencies involved in enterprise
development in Ireland will make
recommendations to the Minister for Justice
and Equality. They also expressly say that
“Investment proposals are approved by the
Evaluation Committee and the Minister for
Justice and Equality [emphasis added]”, They
also state: “The decision of the Minister for
Justice and Equality on an application is final”.
There is no doubt the Minister is the
decision-maker on the IIP.
When it was put to Farrelly by Village that
he is politically “closely associated with the
Minister” who is responsible for approving IIP
applicants and asked whether he had had any
discussions with her or officials of the
Department (in relation to the application
under the IIP scheme), he replied:
This discussion is over.
On Friday 9 June, Village asked the
Department the following questions:
Whether there been any contact during her
time in oce between the Minister for Justice,
Helen McEntee, and the directors of
Kilmainhamwood Area Development
Association (KADA) or any person associated
or working on its behalf, concerning an
application under the Immigrant Investment
Programme;
Whether Helen McEntee approved an
application by KADA or any associated
persons or vehicle for investment in
purchasing a nursing home at Kilmainham, Co
Meath, during her time in oce;
Whether the Minister had any discussions
with J V Farrelly in respect of such an
investment under the Immigrant Investment
Programme;
Whether her departmental ocials were
lobbied by Mr Farrelly concerning the nursing
home or any other matter during her time in
oce.
In response, Village was informed that “The
Department does not comment on individual
applications to the IIP.
But the Department should have responded
because there is at least a potential of a
conflict of interest.
The Minister was only slightly more
forthcoming in answering a Parliamentary
Meath County Council Acting Chief
Executive Fiona Lawless and newly elected
cathaoirleach Cllr Tommy Reilly
question tabled by Sinn Fein TD, Aengus
O’Snodaigh, in a detailed written reply in June:
“I can confirm that I did not meet any applicant
to the IIP regarding their IIP application.
However, the Minister has not disclosed
whether she signed o on the application
which involved a commitment to fund the
purchase by KADA of which Mr Farrelly is a
founder and director of the nursing home
which he also part owned.
In her reply to Deputy O’Snodaigh, she does
confirm that each individual application is
submitted to her, as minister, for final
approval.
She said:
“All projects in which IIP applicants are
investing are examined in detail by an
Independent Evaluation Committee
comprising ocials from my Department, the
Department of Finance, the Department of
Foreign Aairs, Enterprise Ireland and IDA
Ireland who have appropriate expertise in this
area.
This examination process involves an
assessment of the commercial viability of the
project; employment outcomes associated
with the proposed investment; and the overall
benefit to the Irish State. The Committee
makes a determination as to whether a project
is suitable for IIP investment and if deemed
suitable, the individual application will be
submitted to the Minister for final approval.”
These statements do not address the critical
issues of whether: McEntee was Minister of
Justice at the time the IIP visa was signed; and
whether she was aware of Farrelly’s
involvement in KADA and that he stood to
make a substantial financial gain from the
Chinese investment at the time the IIP visa
application was signed.
Simon Harris TD, who replaced McEntee as
Minister after she had gone on maternity
leave, in late 2022, announced the sudden
closure of the IIP to new applications in
February 2023.
Section 1.5 of the Code of Conduct for Oce
Holders – which applies to Ministers – states
that: “Oce holders in particular should not
be influenced in their official duties by
personal considerations”.
Ministers are only obliged to avoid personal
The Council was the subject of a “CEO
fraud scam whereby emails purporting
to be from Council chief executive,
Jackie Maguire, successfully sought the
transfer of the funds
10 July-August 2023 July-August 2023 11
or business conflicts of interests but there are
no provisions preventing anyone putting a
word in for a friend. The current Ethics
Legislation only curbs such interventions by
requiring publication of the details of any
lobbying. The intention is that conducting
business in the full light of public scrutiny will
deter malpractice. The political relationship
between Farrelly and McEntee is so close that,
in this matter relating to her own constituency
she should have been required by the law to
recuse herself from the decision-making
process; but there is no such law.
Farrelly has been registered as a lobbyist
with the Department of Justice since 2016 on
behalf of a company which has promoted the
IIP scheme for potential investors. His
application stated that he was “looking for
approval of the investment opportunity for the
Chinese applicants which would result in them
being approved for a 5 year visa”.
In any event, even if knowledge of the
previous lobbying is imputed to the
Department it is not clear if that lobbying was
relevant to this application.
In 2022, the funding from Chinese investors
financed the purchase by KADA, a registered
charity, of the nearby Mowlam Nursing Home,
in Kilmainham Wood, County Meath. Farrelly
is a founder of KADA and was also an investor,
with nine others, in the nursing home from its
establishment in 2000 and before its recent
acquisition by the charity. According to one
director of KADA, the investment by the
Chinese donors amounted to some €1.6
million. Peadar Fitzgerald, a consultant on
social housing, who recently joined the board,
also insisted that the KADA directors were
aware of Mr Farrellys part ownership of the
nursing home before its acquisition by the
charity. He said the charity intended to
reburbish and extend the 36-bed nursing
home and that it had applied to build 10 social
housing units on the site of the retirement
village run by KADA.
“I believe the investment was something in
the region of €1.6 million. It was used to
purchase the nursing home. The directors of
KADA were aware that Mr Farrelly was the
owner of the nursing home along with a
number of other shareholders in a tax
scheme“, said Fitzgerald, who said he
provides consultancy to KADA on a voluntary
basis. He said it was his understanding that
there was a charge against Farrelly as a result
of his bank debts which he may have cleared
when the nursing home was sold to KADA.
Farrelly has also confirmed that there was a
charge against his shareholding in the nursing
home. The nursing home is managed by
Mowlam Healthcare, which was purchased by
investment fund, Cardinal Capital, in 2020.
KADA operates a retirement village with
over 30 residents, many of whom own their
homes, and a day-care centre for residents
and others from the locality, which is located
close to the nursing home. KADA received a
capital grant of over €1.9 million from Meath
County Council in 2020 and also obtains
annual funding from the HSE.
Farrelly is a former Fine Gael TD for Meath
East and was recently appointed chairperson
of the Strategy Committee for the party’s
constituency organisation. He is a close
political advisor to Helen McEntee who was
appointed justice minister in 2020 and has
responsibility for endorsing applications to
the IIP scheme. It attracted over €1.25 billion
since 2012 before it was suddenly closed in
February 2023. An audit of the controversial
programme has suggested that there were
concerns within the Department about the
lack of security vetting of Chinese donors but
there are also questions to be asked about
many in business and charitable enterprises
in Ireland that have been rewarded financially
by its operation. At the time of the award to
Farrellys charity, the scheme was under
intense scrutiny and the subject of an, as yet,
unpublished review which eventually led to its
closure. It would be surprising if McEntee and
her ocials were not aware of the sensitivity
of this particular application.
The programme granted residency rights to
non-EU citizens, their spouse and children
under 18 if they invested a minimum €1
million in a business in Ireland or provided an
endowment of up to €500,000 to a social
cause or charity. Nursing homes, hotels,
social housing, universities, and even a rugby
club across Ireland have benefited from the
scheme. The investors must prove they have
a net worth of €2 million in order to avail of the
scheme but fears have been raised that some
applicants, who must reside in Ireland for at
least one day a year, may not have been
adequately vetted before obtaining residency.
In 2016, Farrelly registered as a lobbyist for
IIP investment from China on behalf of Vesada
Private Ltd with an address at Fitzwilliam Hall,
Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin. The directors of
Vesada were listed by the Company
Registration Oce in 2021 as Frank Clinton of
Mullingar, County Westmeath and Desmond
Connolly of Clondalkin in Dublin. The company
has developed social housing projects in
Dublin, Westmeath and County Mayo as well
as hotels, student apartments and holiday
homes. Mr Clinton informed Village that he
had not been in contact with Farrelly since
former director, Richard Heaney of Castletown,
Navan, left the company several years ago. He
said he originally was introduced to Farrelly
by Mr Heaney at Fine Gael functions in County
Meath. However, Farrelly still appears as an
advisor to Vesada on its website. Although he
has denied being involved in the lobbying for
the IIP funds that went to KADA, it is clear
Farrelly was all over the transactions
surrounding the Chinese donation. After
losing his council seat in 2014, Farrelly
became president of business group, Meath
Chamber. In 2016, he travelled to China to
open an oce of Meath Chamber in Ningbo
and has since visited the country other
occasions.
In November 2022, KADA successfully
applied to Meath County Council for planning
permission to construct 10 dwellings at the
retirement village. This followed the refusal of
An Bord Pleanála of an earlier application to
build 33 detached modular houses on the land
at Boynagh, Kilmainhamwood in Kells, County
Meath. The refusal followed objections to the
proposals by two long-time residents of the
retirement village.
Nursing home and day-care centre, Kilmainham Wood Retirement Village, Kells, county Meath
12 July-August 2023 July-August 2023 PB
The theft was detected
before the transfer was
completed but it took
several months, and a cost
of a reported €400,000,
before the money was
returned
In September 2021, the planning inspector
recommended refusal on the grounds that the
proposed development would “detract from
the amenities of existing and future residents
of the retirement village”. She also said that
the scale of the development would “fail to
comply with the Core strategy of the current
County Development Plan”. Farrelly was a
member and chairperson of Meath County
Council during the preparation of the local
authority’s 2013-2019 development plan. The
current permission for 10 houses has also
been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
Farrelly confirmed that he was obliged to
make a report to the Department of Justice
every three months on his activities as a
lobbyist. He said he “was not at liberty” to
comment on whether he had been involved in
discussions with the Department or the
Minister for Justice in relation to the Chinese
donation to KADA and its purchase of the
nursing home.
“I am not going to start giving out
information about a charity I set up over 20
years ago”.
Asked if he was in touch with the Department
in respect of the nursing home investment
through the IIP, he replied:
“I would have been in touch with the
Department when I registered as a lobbyist. I
registered to be a lobbyist, full stop. That
covers a lot of areas across departments of
government”.
In 2016, Farrelly registered as a lobbyist with
the Department of Justice in order to attract
Chinese investment through the Immigrant
Investor Programme. In June of that year,
Meath Chambers, of which he was president
opened an oce in Ningbo, China with the
support of Wen Chen, CEO and chairman of
the Ireland China Science and Technology
Association.
In March 2018, H.E. Dr. Yue Xiaoyong,
Chinese Ambassador to Ireland, attended
the launch of an event described as
“Illuminating Meath (2018 EU-China Tourism
Year)” where he met Gerry O’Connor,
Cathaoirleach of Meath County Council. He
also held discussions with Kevin Stewart,
Director of Services with the Council and
responsible for promoting enterprise for the
county.
Unrelated to these events, but to the great
embarrassment of the local authority, China
also featured in the disappearance in 2016
of some €4.3 million from the accounts of
Meath County Council which turned up in
Hong Kong.
The Council, it emerged, was the subject
of a “CEO fraud scam” whereby emails
purporting to be from Council chief
executive, Jackie Maguire, successfully
sought the transfer of the funds.
The theft was detected before the transfer
was completed but it took several months,
and a cost of a reported €400,000, before
the money was returned from a bank in Hong
Kong following a Garda investigation.
“Meath County Council has confirmed that
it has taken legal proceedings in Hong Kong
and that the funds have been secured on foot
of a court order obtained by Meath County
Council”, the Council said in late 2016.
Following her recent departure as CEO of
the Council, Jackie Maguire has been
replaced by acting CEO by Fiona Lawless,
who was head of finance and under whose
watch the €4.3 million disappeared.
Members of the Council also earlier this
month voted Fianna Fáil councillor, Tommy
Reilly, as their new chairperson. Village
readers will be familiar with the controversial
role played by Councillor Reilly in the
re-zoning of lands purchased by his two sons
at Liscarton, outside Navan a few years ago.
The sons have now been granted planning
permission for the development of a
business park on the lands although it has
been appealed by local residents.
Shenanigans in Meath via China
Chinese ambassador, Dr Yue with MCC
director of services, Kevin Stewart, and
chairperson, George O’Connor (front
right) in March, 2018.

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