Last month 64 permits were issued under the scheme, 61 of them for the purchase of property totalling €33.9 million. Of that, just under €3.7 million was property for rehabilitation, for which 10 residence permits were issued.

A further three permits were issued for capital transpfer, which in September totalled €3.1 million.

So far this year, almost €593 million in investment has come in under the programme, but that represents s 19% drop on the first nine months of 2017.

In the almost six years since the ARI programme, as it is officially known, was launched, in October 2012, cumulative investment is more than €4 billion, with property purchases accounting for more than €3.6 billion of that.

By nationalities, China leads in terms of residence permits issues, with 3,952, followed by Brazil with 590, South Africa with 262, Turkey with 247 and Russia 228.

In all, since the start of the programme, 11,125 permits have also been issued to the families of permit holders, with 1,810 of this being this year.