Planning

‘Secrecy jurisdiction’ and tax haven companies to build 8,400 homes here

Foreign-based property firms controlled by mystery shareholders plan to construct large apartment blocks for the rental sector under the SHD scheme

A total of 29 applications were made by companies ultimately owned abroad, with firms in the Netherlands, Monaco, Britain, Uruguay, Dominican Republic and Malta also filing for permission to build apartment blocks in Ireland

Companies in “secrecy jurisdictions” and tax havens, where shareholders’ identities are concealed, have lodged plans to build more than 8,000 homes in Ireland during 2022 alone, an investigation by the Business Post has found.

The property firms, controlled by mystery shareholders in Luxembourg, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and the British Virgin Islands, were behind more than a fifth of large-scale housing applications submitted to An Bord Pleanála since January.

A Business Post analysis of ...