Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 24: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of persons, to date, who have made a full application under the home choice scheme; the number of new build and the number of second hand houses now occupied as a result of this scheme; the cost to date of administering the scheme; his plans to continue with the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30725/10]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 27: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the home choice scheme; the amount of successful and drawn down applications to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30563/10]

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 514: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the success of the home choice loan scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31158/10]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 24, 27 and 514 together.

Over 1,400 prospective purchasers formally registered interest on the dedicated Home Choice loan website and, to date, 85 applications have been made. Of these, 9 have been approved, with 4 of these now drawn down. Of the 9 approved applications, 5 were for second hand properties and 4 for new build properties. The 4 loans drawn down refer to new build properties.

The total cost of administering the scheme is approximately €290,000. These costs include the setting up of the central processing unit (CPU) within the Affordable Homes Partnership (AHP). These costs were met fully from within existing resources within the AHP. It should be noted that a significant element of the staffing costs was incurred in the development of the loan processing model which applies to the Home Choice Loan but which has also now been used in the development of revised systems for processing and credit checking of standard local authority house purchase loan applications under other schemes such as affordable housing, shared ownership etc.

The scheme is intended to be a temporary one which will be withdrawn once conditions in credit markets return to normal patterns.