James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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617. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 1355 of 26 March 2019, if a person whose credit rating has been restored following the five year term of a company (details supplied) must advise if they previously owned a property; if the five year term of the company clears the slate of all previous borrowings; the position regarding access to Rebuilding Ireland mortgages following bankruptcy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16164/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Applicants for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan must be of good credit standing and have a satisfactory credit record. 

A person who has been discharged from bankruptcy and is eligible in all other respects, including being a first-time buyer, for a Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan may apply for a loan and will be subject to the same credit assessment process that applies to all applicants, which is carried out in accordance with the credit policy for the scheme.

As with the previous local authority home loan offerings, the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan is available to first time buyers only. This is to ensure the effective targeting of limited resources, and I have no plans to amend this requirement. The Housing Agency provides a central assessment service to local authorities and credit checks are undertaken as part of that assessment process. 

The final decision on loan approval is a matter for the relevant 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 Regulations establishing the scheme and the credit policy, that underpins the scheme, in order to ensure prudence and consistency in approaches in the best interests of both borrowers and the lending local authorities.