Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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249. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of applications to date for the help-to-buy scheme as announced in budget 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41612/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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250. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of applications for the help to buy scheme that have been deemed valid to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41613/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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251. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of successful or pending applications for the help-to-buy scheme in each category (details supplied), in tabular form. [41614/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 249 to 251, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Help to Buy (HTB) application system was launched on time on the first working day of the New Year, following the announcement of the measure in Budget 2017. I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the mortgage query tool, which is an integral part of the system for mortgage providers, went live last week.

I am also advised that the number of Help To Buy applications received up to Friday 13 January 2017 was:

With regard to the Deputy's request for the breakdown of applications by different loan-to-value ratios, the Revenue Commissioners advise this is not available.  Information about the loan-to-value ratios is available from the finalised claim submitted by successful applicants and it is not available at the application stage.  To date, a small number of claims have been paid and that number is not a sufficiently large sample to enable Revenue to provide the categorisation sought.

The Revenue Commissioners are encouraging prospective applicants to file any necessary returns and resolve any outstanding issues before they make their HTB application.  I am aware that HTB applicants can also use Revenue's website to carry out other requests, for example to file a Form 12 or apply for tax clearance.  PAYE taxpayers can use myAccount and the bulk of the applications so far have been submitted via myAccount.  Business taxpayers can use ROS Revenue's Online Service.

The Revenue Commissioners have seen a very healthy level of interest in the HTB scheme, which is indicated by the level of applications already received and by the activity on their website since the scheme was announced last October.  I am further advised that the level of interest in the Scheme has been consistently increasing since the start of the year.

Another element of the Scheme is that first time purchasers of property after 1 January this year are required to ensure that they purchase from a 'qualified contractor'.  The Revenue Commissioners have already approved 5 contractors, and up to Friday 13 January 2017 there were 37 applications for registration as 'qualified contractors'.  Given the number of queries from contractors, Revenue anticipates that the number of approved contractors will increase significantly over the next few weeks.