Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 167: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason all local authorities are not accepting applications for the home choice loan scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16266/10]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 168: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of home choice loan approvals issued to date by each local authority; the number of applications received; the length of time taken to process these applications; the number of such applications currently on hand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16267/10]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 167 and 168 together.

Over 1,400 prospective purchasers have formally registered interest on the dedicated Home Choice loan website and, to date, 58 applications have been made. Of these, four have been approved, with three of these now drawn down, 35 applications have been turned down, five have been withdrawn and further information has been sought in respect of 14 applications. This information, broken down by designated operating authority, is set out in a table below. My Department does not collect information on the time taken to process loan applications.

Four local authorities are designated lending authorities acting on a regional basis, these are Cork City Council, Dublin City Council, Galway County Council and Kilkenny County Council. The table below also gives details of the local authority areas served by each of the designated authorities.

Local authorities carry out a very wide range of housing related functions. As Home Choice Loan is intended as an exceptional measure, and is not part of local authorities' core housing functions, limiting the number of participating authorities represents a pragmatic approach. Home Choice Loan is intended to address a very specific set of circumstances that currently prevail in the housing market and prompt roll-out was an important design feature which, together with national support from the Affordable Homes Partnership, represents a prudent approach from a governance point of view, as well as allowing regional groupings of local authorities to advance initiatives in a more integrated way to achieve better value for money and enhanced customer service.