Did minister approve visa for Chinese investor that beneﬁted close political ally?

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”

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. “I’ve no idea who they are. I wasn’t

NEWS

Did minister approve visa

for Chinese investor that

beneﬁted 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 Farrelly’s 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

Farrelly’s 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.