Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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688. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to delays in processing and granting loans by Kildare County Council and other local authorities in respect of the Rebuilding Ireland home loans; the reason for these delays; the way in which the waiting times from application to granting of funds will be reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50109/18]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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690. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of local authorities negotiating with his Department for a release of further funding for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme; the number of local authorities that exhausted their allocation of funding for the scheme for 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50111/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 688 and 690 together.

The Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan Scheme has proved to be very successful and the take-up of the Scheme in some local authority areas has been greater than was originally envisaged. As a result 10 local authorities, including Kildare County Council have sought increases to their allocations for loan approval. Further funds were allocated to 9 of those authorities (including Kildare), for this purpose last month. The application by the remaining authority is being examined currently by my Department.

Kildare County Council has also raised a number of issues concerning the administration of the scheme, and my Department is in discussions with that authority on these matters.

The final decision on all loans rest with each local authority's credit committee, and this decision must be made in accordance with the regulations and credit policy, having regard to the recommendations made by the Housing Agency's assessment of the loan application.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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689. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the drawdown on a local authority basis under the scheme for 2018 in respect of the Rebuilding Ireland home loan; the average amount borrowed nationally and locally; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50110/18]

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 publishes information on the overall number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Information up to Q2 2018 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 recommended for approval and the most recent figures, as at the end of October, indicate that the Agency had recommended a total of 1,317 applications for approval since the scheme launched, a breakdown of which by local authority is set out in the following table.

The average loan amount requested to date is €158,433. The average loan amount recommended for approval where the maximum borrowing is €288,000 is €207,927. The average loan amount recommended for approval where the maximum borrowing is €225,000 is €131,493.

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.