Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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306. To ask the Minister for Finance if his Department or the Central Bank of Ireland holds data on the average and median credit card limits of new mortgage applicants in each of the past five years, by borrower type that is, first-time buyer, mover, switcher, income band, and region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48079/25]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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307. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will publish the distribution of credit card limits among new mortgage applicants in each of the past five years for example, €0, €1,000–€3,000, €3,001–€6,000, €6,001–€10,000, over €10,000, together with the corresponding notional monthly repayment assumptions applied by regulated lenders for affordability assessments, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48080/25]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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308. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide data on the proportion and number of mortgage applications approved and declined in each of the past five years where revolving credit facilities that is, credit cards or overdrafts were recorded as a material factor in the affordability outcome, including the average reduction in approved loan size attributable to credit card limits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48081/25]

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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309. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will request, acknowledging the statutory independence of the Central Bank of Ireland, that it compile and publish an analysis of the marginal impact of each additional €1,000 in credit card limit on modelled mortgage affordability and loan size, controlling for income, LTI, LTV, age, and borrower type; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48082/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 306, 307, 308 and 309 together.

The Central Bank of Ireland, as part of its independent mandate to preserve financial stability and to protect the consumer, has statutory responsibility for the regulation of mortgage lending by banks and other regulated entities.

In line with this mandate, there are a certain regulatory requirements Central Bank regulated lenders have to meet when providing mortgage credit to consumers. For example, lenders have to comply with the Central Bank's macro-prudential measures for residential mortgage lending which apply, with a certain level of flexibility, loan-to-value (LTV) and loan-to-income (LTI) requirements in relation to residential mortgage lending.

In addition, the Central Bank Consumer Protection Code imposes ‘Knowing the Consumer and Suitability’ requirements on lenders and, as part of this, they are required to assess affordability of credit and the suitability of a product or service based on the individual circumstances of each borrower.

It also provides that, where a personal consumer’s formal application for credit is turned down by a regulated entity, it must clearly outline to the personal consumer the reasons why the credit was not approved, and if requested, it must provide the reasons on paper or on another durable medium.

Separately, the European Union (Consumer Mortgage Credit Agreements) Regulations 2016 places a statutory requirement on lenders to assess the creditworthiness of the borrower. It further provides that mortgage credit should only be made available where the result of the creditworthiness assessment indicates that the consumer’s obligations resulting from the credit agreement are likely to be met in the manner required under that agreement. The assessment of creditworthiness must be carried out on the basis of information on the consumer’s income and expenses and other financial and economic circumstances which is necessary, sufficient and proportionate.

Finally, the Credit Reporting Act 2013 obliges lenders to access information on the Central Credit Register (CCR) in respect of a person who makes an application for a mortgage or another relevant credit application.

Subject to compliance with the legal and regulatory requirements governing the provision of mortgage credit to consumers, it is then a business matter for individual lenders to determine their own lending policies, including in relation to the appropriate consideration of credit card or other debt in the context of an application for mortgage credit.

Such decisions are a business matter for individual lenders and neither the Central Bank nor the Minister for Finance has a role or detailed information in relation to such commercial decisions which are made by regulated mortgage lending institutions.

The Central Bank advises that, while the CCR does contain information on lender enquiries related to mortgage applications and credit card debt, it does not capture any selection/rejection process before the enquiry or track the outcome, or information in relation to the borrower's income.

On a more general level, while the Central Bank does conduct research on consumer debt and overall household resilience to support its financial stability and other statutory functions, it does not specifically collect and analyse mortgage application data related to credit card limits.

Nevertheless, the Deputy may wish to note that, as part of its most recent review of the mortgage lending measures which concluded in 2022, Central Bank analysis (as contained in box 2 of the mortgage measures framework review consultation paper CP146 and which is available on the Bank’s website) indicated that most mortgage borrowers have no other debts or very small debts at the time of mortgage drawdown.

In addition, among borrowers of home loans in 2020, the average debt for all other purposes was only six per cent of the size of the home loan and that the median amount of such debt was less than €1,000.

Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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310. To ask the Minister for Finance the position regarding his Department’s research carried out into the correlation of income tax rates and disincentivising overtime and promotions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48183/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The marginal tax rate is described as the tax rate that applies to the last euro of the tax base. Marginal tax rates are important because they may influence individual decisions to work more or indeed to work at all. My Department continues to monitor and analyse research produced in this area.

The OECD publishes an annual Taxing Wages report. Amongst other metrics the report provides cross-country data on the 'tax wedge', a measure which accounts for the difference between labour costs and net take-home pay.

The 2025 Report shows that Ireland’s tax wedge on labour for single individuals with no children on the average wage ranks close to the OECD average and 17th lowest out of 38 OECD countries and is significantly below other advanced European economies. The analysis indicates that Ireland continues to maintain a relatively low tax wedge on labour, ensuring that the decision to work or to hire is not unduly distorted by taxation. The Report is available at the following link:

www.oecd.org/en/publications/taxing-wages-2025_b3a95829-en.html

As the Deputy will be aware, a key principle underlaying the Irish tax system is equity - Ireland has a progressive income tax system which is structured such that the more income you earn, the more tax you pay. As a person’s income increases, they move up through the various rates and bands and, as a result, while the levels of take-home pay increase overall, the amount of tax they pay also increases.

However, to ease the burden facing average and middle-income earners, over successive Budgets the previous Government substantially increased the entry point to the higher rate of income tax for all earners by €8,700 or c. 25 per cent over the last four budgets. In addition, the main tax credits have also been increased by €350, or c. 21 per cent, over this period. Furthermore, in line with Government policy of ensuring full-time workers on the minimum wage remain outside the charge to the top rates of USC the ceiling of the 2 per cent USC rate band was increased by €6,898, or 34 per cent, from 2020 to 2025. Budgets 2024 and 2025 also cumulatively reduced the 4.5 per cent rate of USC to 3 per cent.

I would point out that my Department completed a review of the Personal Income Tax System, which was published on Budget day 2023. The report encompasses analysis of the Income Tax and USC structure, and is available at the following link:

www.gov.ie/pdf/?file= .

Finally, as part of the annual Tax Strategy Group (TSG) process, my Department prepares an Income Tax paper, which provides analysis in relation to a broad range of issues and options. These generally include a summary of income tax yields and projections, distribution of income tax and USC, estimated cumulative burden of income tax and USC, concentration risk and vulnerabilities in the income tax base and international comparisons. The TSG Budget 2026 paper is available at the following link.

www.gov.ie/en/department-of-finance/collections/budget-2026-tax-strategy-group-papers/