St Catherine's in Wicklow still waiting for €16m to expand disability services

Irish Independent

2 days ago

The IIP offered investors and their families residency visas, called immigration permissions, in Ireland in return for investing large sums of money in projects. The programme opened in 2012 and mostly consisted of Chinese investors. The fund was closed in February of 2023.
In June of 2022, St Catherine's Association received planning permission for the construction of a two-storey administration centre, single storey adult day centre, respite centre incorporating four accommodation units at lands associated with the Holy Faith Convent in Kilcoole. However, they still can't access the IIP which was due to cover the cost of the works.
Chair of the St Catherine's Association, Brendan Whelan, said: 'It's holding everything up and the irony is we are putting in facilities that the state should be putting in place anyway, and an organ of the state, the Department of Justice, are taking no accountability on the speedy delivery of the fund.' He said in his opinion 'to treat some of the most vulnerable people in society this way is scandalous'.
Initially, St Catherine's Association put in an application for the IIP project so the Department of Justice could determine if they met the criteria. The overall fund pot of €16 million, which was due to be scheduled in two phases, starting with around €5.5 million for phase one, followed by the remainder in phase two, involving up to 40 donors.
St Catherine's Association have so far received just €400,000 in October of 2023, which was spent on preliminary works, such as the cost of architects. In February, the Department of Justice requested some information from St Catherine's Association over an audit they were due to carry out, and were furnished with bank balances and invoices.
'It was all very straight forward and we provided all the information on February 26, detailing how we had spent most of the €400,000. From our interaction with the department, it doesn't seem that they have accessed the audit yet,' added Mr Whelan.
He added: 'We have big plans for St Catherine's Association. The adult day care centre will give an opportunity to train and upskill adults who have finished school. We also have plans for a training and admin centre, as we currently operate out of the old nurses houses in the psychiatric hospital in Newcastle, which isn't ideal. We also plan to construct a respite centre just to provide some form of respite for local families.
"There are also plans for a brand new school, which is separate and funded by the department. We aren't the only project being held up but it is becoming increasingly frustrating the longer every thing drags on.'
Deputy Jennifer Whitmore has lent her support, and raised the issue with Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy Colm Brophy, during a Dáil Éireann debate on Thursday.
Deputy Whitmore stated: 'A charity in my home constituency of Wicklow, St. Catherine's Association, does incredible work. It is a voluntary association and has worked with children and young adults with intellectual disabilities for many years. It is an invaluable service for hundreds of families across and outside the county.
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'It ensures that each child and young adult can meet their full potential and are fully included in and feel part of their community. The work the association does is so important.
'It is trying to expand its functions. It has planned and has approval for building an adult day centre, an administrative and training unit and four respite homes. This will increase the valuable services it provides.
'It applied for immigrant investor programme, IIP, funding in April 2022 and, three years later, still has not received it. As the Minister of State can imagine, that is causing huge difficulties for the charity. It has done all of the work and has the plans and designs in place. Planning permission has been granted. The diggers are ready, the land is available but the association has still not received any information from the department on when the funding will be provided.
'In July last year, the association was told it could finally access the donor funds, which is quite a significant sum, in the hundreds of thousands. Despite being told that, there is still no sign of the money. The association is becoming very worried at this point.
'There are 250 children and their families relying on St. Catherine's for services. It provides a function that in most countries would be provided by the government. Because of this we should absolutely pull out all the stops to make sure it can provide the best service that it can, with all the support it requires from the state.'
In reply, Deputy Brophy said: 'In general terms, I can inform Deputy Whitmore that my department does not receive or hold funds at any stage in the IIP process, nor does it have any role in the administration of an approved project or investment fund. This is a private matter between a potential investor, or investors, and a potential project concerned.
'Approval of an application under the IIP is not an endorsement of a particular project. What it means is that the investor has been approved and the investment meets the objectives of the IIP.
"The applicant in the IIP process is the investor and not the project owner. The State has no responsibility for the performance of an investment under the programme. This is a matter for the project owner to ensure delivery of an approved project within the timeframe set out in its business plan.'
Deputy Whitmore labelled the response as 'incredibly disappointing'.
She stated: 'It is also very confusing. In one part the Minister of State said it is a private matter between a potential investor and the project concerned and that, essentially, he has nothing to do with the administration of it. In another part, he said the immigrant investor programme was first introduced by the government and directed us to the department's immigration service website for information on it.
"Clearly there is a role here for the government. Clearly the government set it up and facilitated it. The government has a responsibility to those charities which, as I said, are providing a service that the government is unable to, or will not, provide to ensure those charities, which applied in good faith for this programme under the auspices of the government, get the money they are due.'