Home Repossessions Rate

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 November 2018

Wednesday, 21 November 2018

Ceisteanna (153)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Ceist:

153. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of home repossessions lending institutions applied for, by number; and the number of those that were either refused, adjourned or granted, respectively, in each of the past seven years, by court district, in tabular form. [48509/18]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Justice and Equality

I regret that it has not been possible to compile the requested data within the limited time available. In the circumstances, I will communicate directly with the Deputy when available information has been assembled.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 42A

I refer to my reply to parliamentary question No. 153, Ref. No. 48509/2018 in which I undertook to communicate with the Deputy directly when the data requested in the parliamentary question had been compiled.

The position is that data in relation to repossession proceedings are compiled on a county basis rather than by court district. Unfortunately, detailed repossession statistics are only available for the years 2015 onwards. In that context, please note the following three Tables.

Table 1 shows the number of Civil Bills for Possession in respect of principal dwelling houses issued by the Courts Service broken down by county. As you will note, the number of Civil Bills issued has fallen from a figure of 4,088 in 2015 to 2,439 in 2017 – a fall of some 40%, Figures for the first half of 2018 indicate a further decline in the numbers of Civil Bills issued.

Table 2 shows the number of Possession Orders granted in each county from 2015 onwards. Again, these figures relate to principal dwelling houses. Here too, we see a decline in numbers over the period concerned, from 918 in 2015 to 733 in 2017 – a drop of some 20%. Early figures from 2018 again suggest that these figures are continuing to decline.

Table 3 comprises details, by county, provided by the Courts Service on the numbers of applications for Possession Orders which are either refused or struck out by the courts or which are withdrawn by the lender. You should note that these figures relate to the total number of applications not merely those relating to principal private dwellings. The figures increased substantially from 2015 to 2016 but fell even more substantially from 2016 to 2017. Early figures for 2018 indicate that the numbers are relatively consistent with those for 2017.

An interesting point to note is that, in each of the years for which detailed data are available, the number of applications which were refused, struck out or withdrawn exceeded the number of Possession Orders granted by the Courts.

Table 1 – Civil Bills for Possession Issued by County – 2015 to Q2 2018

County	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Q1 and Q2)
Carlow	75	45	30	11
Cavan	55	88	57	19
Clare	133	92	84	23
Cork	380	272	223	46
Donegal	165	106	89	25
Dublin	826	666	412	101
Galway	320	157	107	47
Kerry	86	100	73	17
Kildare	227	219	191	57
Kilkenny	116	65	75	6
Laois	51	30	51	21
Leitrim	30	37	15	10
Limerick	177	141	91	24
Longford	21	17	26	8
Louth	194	99	140	27
Mayo	105	77	55	12
Meath	172	209	232	53
Monaghan	50	49	38	9
Offaly	117	93	46	13
Roscommon	76	55	48	14
Sligo	44	42	16	13
Tipperary	187	145	95	32
Waterford	89	118	68	23
Westmeath	104	105	52	13
Wexford	136	128	94	33
Wicklow	152	107	31	10
TOTAL	4088	3262	2439	667

Table 2 – Possession Orders Granted by County – 2015 to Q2 2018

County	2015	2016	2017	2018 (Q1 and Q2)
Carlow	19	19	5	2
Cavan	17	26	17	10
Clare	16	19	24	8
Cork	123	86	85	22
Donegal	31	6	11	8
Dublin	113	150	172	54
Galway	38	56	54	18
Kerry	29	15	13	4
Kildare	33	32	11	14
Kilkenny	27	11	17	19
Laois	64	27	19	14
Leitrim	10	9	4	2
Limerick	11	0	17	7
Longford	4	4	6	0
Louth	54	46	25	17
Mayo	15	42	25	10
Meath	35	67	83	12
Monaghan	16	15	8	3
Offaly	26	16	6	4
Roscommon	30	30	26	8
Sligo	3	11	5	0
Tipperary	65	53	26	7
Waterford	32	34	9	7
Westmeath	15	29	19	8
Wexford	40	12	35	16
Wicklow	52	33	11	14
TOTAL	918	848	733	288

Table 3 – Applications Withdrawn Struck out or Rejected by the Courts – 2015 to Q2 2018

County	2015	2016	2017	Q1 and Q2 2018
Carlow	1	5	0	0
Cavan	83	68	58	25
Clare	4	44	14	0
Cork	178	163	160	82
Donegal	0	29	0	0
Dublin	419	665	437	106
Galway	48	23	0	63
Kerry	66	53	45	27
Kildare	44	39	3	1
Kilkenny	46	29	0	0
Laois	80	48	43	20
Leitrim	25	23	14	15
Limerick	0	0	8	34
Longford	21	16	1	2
Louth	18	67	19	37
Mayo	62	53	35	26
Meath	118	206	59	46
Monaghan	5	5	1	7
Offaly	1	51	8	1
Roscommon	0	35	25	8
Sligo	1	18	0	0
Tipperary	32	25	70	12
Waterford	14	37	5	0
Westmeath	88	75	48	21
Wexford	100	52	54	11
Wicklow	0	0	6	0
TOTAL	1454	1829	1113	544