Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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255. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of Rebuilding Ireland home loan applications received to date by county; the number approved, refused or pending; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8707/19]

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.

The Housing Agency provides a central support service which assesses valid 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 asked the Agency to compile figures on its processing of applications and the most recent figures, as at the end of January 2019, indicate that the Agency had underwritten 3,258 applications since the scheme began. Of these, 1,660 were recommended for approval. The data provided does not include figures on the number of pending applications.

A breakdown by county of the approvals and refusals is in the following table.

RIHL approvals and refusals to end Jan 2019

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.