Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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51. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 97 of 20 April 2016, if he is aware of the number and value of approved mortgages by banks (details supplied) that are outside the normal 80% cap for non-first-time buyers or the equivalent cap for first-time buyers under the Central Bank of Ireland's macro prudential lending rules to date; and to provide details for the respective banks, in tabular form. [8999/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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52. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 97 of 20 April 2016, if he is not aware of the number and value of approved mortgages by banks (details supplied) that are outside the normal 80% cap for non-first-time buyers or the equivalent cap for first-time buyers under the Central Bank of Ireland's macro prudential lending rules to date; and if he is dealing with these figures. [9000/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 52 together.

As advised in answer to the Deputy's previous PQ, the macro-prudential limits on mortgage lending are designed, implemented and monitored by the Central Bank in its role as regulator of the Irish banking sector, and therefore fall outside of my remit as Minister for Finance. Moreover, the Central Bank does not provide prudential lending disclosures on an industry-wide or institutional basis and there is no regulatory requirement for Banks to publicly disclose the value of approved mortgages that are exceptions to the macro-prudential limits. My role as Minister of Finance, as set out in the Relationship Framework Agreements between the Minister and the banks in which the State is a shareholder, does not involve me in the relationship between the banks and their regulator. As such neither I nor my Department have a direct role in this matter.

In relation to PTSB, the Group had €459m of new mortgage lending in 2015, as set out on page 8 of the Group's 2015 Financial Statements.  I am further advised that the Group was compliant with the Central Bank of Ireland's macro prudential restrictions in the period up to December 2015 and that 11% of the qualifying loans were issued as LTV exemptions under the CBI macro prudential rules.

In relation to AIB, they had €1.7bn of new mortgage lending in Ireland in 2015, as set out on page 39 of its 2015 Financial Statements. While AIB does not disclose the specific detail requested, I have received assurances that the bank complied fully with Loan-to-Value (LTV) and Loan-to-Income (LTI) limits as set by the Central Bank of Ireland during the year to 31st December 2015, and that AIB continues to operate within the constraints set by its regulator.