Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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542. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if visa stamp 4 holders are eligible for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme; if his attention has been drawn to the confusion with regard to the eligibility of visa stamp 4 holders applying for the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38737/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan (RIHL) enables credit-worthy first-time buyers to access sustainable mortgage lending to purchase new or second-hand properties or self-build in a suitable price range. As with the previous local authority loan offerings, the RIHL is available to first-time buyers only, to ensure the effective targeting of limited resources.

The final decision on loan approval is a matter for each local authority and its Credit Committee on a case-by-case basis. Decisions on all housing loan applications must be made in accordance with the statutory credit policy that underpins the scheme, in order to ensure consistency of treatment for all applicants. Under that policy, applicants must either be citizens of an EU or EEA country, or have a legal right to remain in the State on a long-term basis.

Loan applicants who are dissatisfied with a loan application decision of a local authority Credit Committee may appeal that decision to the local authority. Details of the appeals process can be obtained from the relevant local authority.

Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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543. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loans approved and drawn down in each local authority area in tabular form. [38781/18]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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547. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of applications for loans in each local authority; the number approved and rejected, respectively; the number still being processed; the average loan amount under the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38884/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 543 and 547 together.

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 loan applications received by each local authority.

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: www.housing.gov.ie/housing/statistics/house-prices-loans-and-profile-borrowers/local-authority-loan-activity, and this information will be updated on a quarterly basis as additional data is compiled.

In addition, 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 August, indicate that the Agency had received a total of 2,628 applications for assessment from local authorities. The table below provides information on the geographical distribution of applications received centrally by them for assessment since the scheme began:

Of the 2,628 applications received, 2,074 were deemed to be valid. Of these valid applications, 1,989 had been assessed and 1,024 of these (51%) had been recommended for approval. A breakdown by local authority of the 1,024 applications recommended for approval is set out in the following table.

The average loan amount across the 1,989 applications underwritten was €160,038.

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.