Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 7 September 2018
1345. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the status of an application for a mortgage through the Rebuilding Ireland programme by persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35821/18]
View answerApplications for the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan are not processed by my Department.
All applications are decided on by the local authority that applicants apply to. The Housing Agency provides a central assessment service for local authorities and makes recommendations to the authorities in respect of each application. However, the final decision on loan approval is a matter for each local authority and its credit committee to make 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. 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.
Section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that, subject to law, a local authority is independent in the performance of its functions. Section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 specifically provides that the Minister's power to issue policy directions and guidelines to housing authorities in relation to their housing functions should not be construed as enabling the Minister to exercise any power or control in relation to any individual case with which a housing authority is or may be concerned. Therefore, I am precluded from intervening in relation to individual cases.
