Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2023
438. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of applications, per county for the local authority home loan in 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34848/23]
View answer439. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of approvals, per county for the local authority home loan in 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34849/23]
View answer469. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total number of applicants for Rebuilding Ireland Home Loans from counties Cavan and Monaghan; the total number that have been successful; the total number that have been refused; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35213/23]
View answer472. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of local authority home loan applications, approvals and drawdowns to date in 2023, broken down by local authority and with an average amount for the applications, approvals and drawdowns; if he will provide the same information for 2022, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35253/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 438, 439, 469 and 472 together.
The Local Authority Home Loan (LAHL) is a Government-backed mortgage for creditworthy applicants who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial banks to purchase or build a home. It has been available nationwide from local authorities since 4 January 2022 for first-time buyers and fresh start applicants. The loan can be used both for new and second-hand properties, or to self-build. The Local Authority Home Loan is the successor to the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan (RIHL). While the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan closed to new entrants in 2022, outstanding approvals and applications in progress at that time continued to be processed.
The Housing Agency provides a central support service that assesses applications for the Local Authority Home Loan on behalf of local authorities and makes recommendations to the authorities to approve or refuse applications.
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.
The most recent figures provided by the Housing Agency on the number of valid Local Authority Home Loan applications (and its predecessor the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan) that it assessed for each local authority in 2022 and valid Local Authority Home Loan applications assessed to the end of June 2023 are set out in the below table:
|
Local Authority |
2022 RIHL Applications Assessed |
2022 RIHLRecommended to Approve |
2022 LAHL Applications Assessed |
2022 LAHL Recommended to Approve |
2023 LAHL Applications Assessed |
2023 LAHL Recommended to Approve |
|
Carlow County Council |
5 |
4 |
33 |
12 |
17 |
5 |
|
Cavan County Council |
2 |
1 |
18 |
8 |
8 |
2 |
|
Clare County Council |
1 |
0 |
39 |
19 |
20 |
5 |
|
Cork City Council |
14 |
3 |
116 |
40 |
34 |
9 |
|
Cork County Council |
12 |
5 |
216 |
72 |
89 |
30 |
|
Donegal County Council |
3 |
0 |
18 |
10 |
10 |
1 |
|
Dublin City Council |
21 |
12 |
198 |
117 |
83 |
53 |
|
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council |
0 |
0 |
45 |
21 |
21 |
11 |
|
Fingal County Council |
20 |
13 |
142 |
86 |
65 |
27 |
|
Galway City Council |
2 |
0 |
45 |
30 |
37 |
20 |
|
Galway County Council |
20 |
5 |
87 |
34 |
29 |
11 |
|
Kerry County Council |
11 |
3 |
67 |
16 |
27 |
9 |
|
Kildare County Council |
14 |
6 |
86 |
34 |
44 |
22 |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
5 |
3 |
46 |
27 |
14 |
7 |
|
Laois County Council |
4 |
2 |
50 |
18 |
11 |
6 |
|
Leitrim County Council |
0 |
0 |
14 |
5 |
4 |
0 |
|
Limerick City & County Council |
12 |
3 |
59 |
27 |
16 |
9 |
|
Longford County Council |
0 |
0 |
34 |
18 |
12 |
6 |
|
Louth County Council |
12 |
5 |
96 |
29 |
56 |
20 |
|
Mayo County Council |
1 |
0 |
36 |
17 |
7 |
4 |
|
Meath County Council |
5 |
3 |
127 |
85 |
40 |
28 |
|
Monaghan County Council |
0 |
0 |
44 |
9 |
8 |
1 |
|
Offaly County Council |
0 |
0 |
21 |
10 |
11 |
2 |
|
Roscommon County Council |
0 |
0 |
35 |
6 |
18 |
5 |
|
Sligo County Council |
3 |
1 |
28 |
7 |
6 |
2 |
|
South Dublin County Council |
10 |
7 |
116 |
46 |
40 |
20 |
|
Tipperary County Council |
2 |
1 |
56 |
25 |
20 |
8 |
|
Waterford City & County Council |
6 |
2 |
90 |
12 |
44 |
9 |
|
Westmeath County Council |
4 |
3 |
30 |
16 |
12 |
6 |
|
Wexford County Council |
2 |
2 |
77 |
34 |
39 |
8 |
|
Wicklow County Council |
12 |
5 |
99 |
31 |
28 |
9 |
|
Total |
203 |
89 |
2168 |
921 |
870 |
355 |
My Department regularly publishes information on the number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Local authority approval means that an official letter of offer has been sent to a borrower (and therefore relates to a specific property and loan amount).
Information on drawdowns, approvals, average drawdowns, and average approvals for the Local Authority Home Loan and the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan up to Q3 2022 is available on my Department’s website at the following link, which will be updated as soon as figures are available:
www.gov.ie/en/collection/42d2f-local-authority-loan-activity/#local-authority-loans-approvedpaid
