A GOVERNMENT POLICY to help refurbish homes on the offshore islands of Ireland has been misinterpreted.
Firstly by Indian social media users that erroneously claim that Ireland will pay immigrants €80,000 to move here. And then, in turn, by anti-immigrant groups in Ireland who say that it is proof that the government is discriminating against Irish people in favour of foreigners.
“I do have a problem when Irish people are discriminated against,” one posted on X.com, formerly Twitter, wrote. “Indians can receive €80,000 to settle in Ireland under ’71 Lakh Scheme’. This gives an unfair advantage for housing, college etc.”
Often these posts link back to Indian websites that make similar claims.
“The Ireland 71 Lakh Scheme 2023 is a program introduced by the government of Ireland to encourage individuals to relocate to the country,” one such site reads.
However, while the site’s homepage features information about official government bodies, the bottom of the page notes that it is “not related to any government body. We do not claim to be any government body and we are just a news portal that covers the latest various updates and stories.”
There is also no mention of any scheme with that name on the gov.ie website.
“Ireland has implemented a program as part of their Our Living Islands policy, aimed at boosting the population of Ireland’s offshore communities”, another website states before going on to say that “individuals who choose to move to one of Ireland’s islands can receive over €80,000 (approximately 71 lacks) in financial support.”
Posts on social media, including some prominently featuring redheaded women, further wrongly claim that the money will be given to Indian men who marry Irish women.
However, while there is a policy called Our Living Islands, these sites and post grossly misrepresent what it does.
“Q: Is this a programme to resettle the offshore islands of Ireland?” a list of frequently asked questions about the Our Living Islands policy released by the government begins.
“No,” the answer states. “The aim of this policy is to reverse the trend of depopulation on our offshore islands by supporting those communities.”
“Q: Can foreign nationals move to one of Ireland’s offshore islands?” it continues.
“Our Living Islands does not include any proposals or schemes to facilitate immigration or resettlement to Ireland’s offshore islands,” it answers, “therefore the residency requirements are the same as the rest of Ireland.”
Indians require a visa to visit Ireland and additional permits to work here (though there is a scheme that allows exceptions for short trips to Ireland for Indians with UK visas).
The Our Living Islands policy had been the cause of so much misinformation in international media, including reputable English-language sites, that the government had to clarify last summer what the policy did and, more importantly, did not contain.
“Our Living Islands is a policy, not a scheme, nor does it contain any scheme or proposal that involves any payment for individuals or families to relocate to an offshore island,” the Department of Rural and Community Development, which runs the policy said.
While an 80-page overview of the policy is available, there is little in it that could be interpreted to suggest that people were being paid to immigrate to Ireland.
Instead, much of the confusion seems to come from an announcement last summer that people who wish to refurbish and live in vacant and derelict properties on qualifying islands receive a 20% top up on the Government’s Croí Cónaithe funding grant, meaning they can get a grant of up to €60,000 for works on vacant properties and €84,000 for derelict properties.
The grant is not exclusive to Indians or other immigrants to Ireland, as some posts suggest. Instead, the scheme is available to Irish people, provided they meet requirements, including being able to prove that they own the eligible property, have paid owed local property tax, and have a tax clearance form from Revenue.
There is no scheme that pays Indians or anyone else tens of thousands of Euro to move to Irish islands.
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