Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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142. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the timeframe a local authority is required to keep housing applications in storage or on file after an application has been deemed closed because information to update a file was not submitted by the applicant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7192/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Regulation 12 of the Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011 prescribes the timescales for the processing of applications by housing authorities for social housing support, including timescales for the submission by an applicant of any additional information requested by an authority. In order for an application to be processed by a housing authority, the application form must be fully completed and any necessary additional information submitted by the applicant within the prescribed timescale.

The Regulations do not set down timescales for the retention of an application for which additional information is not submitted as requested and which has been deemed closed by a housing authority. However, housing authorities should also have regard to the provisions of the Data Protection Act, 1988, as amended, which stipulate that data should not be kept longer than is necessary for the purpose for which it was obtained.