Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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351. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loan approvals and home loan drawdowns by month and by local authority since the scheme was launched and up to 29 June 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29713/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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As with the previous local authority home loan offerings, loan applications under the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan are made directly to the local authority in whose area the property proposed for purchase is situated. My Department does not directly collect information on the number of enquiries to local authorities regarding the loan or the number of loan applications received by local authorities.

However, as is currently the case, my Department will continue to publish information on the overall number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Information up to Q4 2017 is available on the Department's website at the following link: , and this information will be updated on a quarterly basis as additional data is compiled.

The Housing Agency provides a central support service which assesses loan applications that are made to the local authorities and makes recommendations to the authorities as to whether loans should be offered to applicants.

I have asked the Agency to centrally compile figures on the numbers of applications that it has assessed and the most recent figures, as at the end of June, indicate that the Agency had received a total of 1,963 applications for assessment from local authorities.

The table below provides information on the geographical distribution of applications received centrally by the Housing Agency for assessment since the scheme began:

Of the 1,963 applications received, 1,510 (or 77%) were deemed to be valid. Of these valid applications, 1,326 had been assessed and 696 of these (52%) had been recommended for approval.

Each local authority must have in place a credit committee and it is a matter for the committee to make the decision on applications for loans, in accordance with the regulations, having regard to the recommendations made by the Housing Agency.