Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 July 2019
2983. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the waiting times for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme in the Cork County Council area by 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months, respectively from the application being accepted to approval; and the number of applications drawn down. [34531/19]
Amharc ar fhreagra2984. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the waiting times for the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme in the Cork City Council area by 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months, respectively from the application being accepted to approval; and the number of applications drawn down. [34532/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 2983 and 2984 together.
In accordance with the Regulations establishing the Rebuilding Ireland Home Loan scheme, the local authorities are the statutory bodies responsible for approving and issuing mortgages under the scheme. Each authority has a credit committee, which is responsible for making the final decisions on loan applications.
As such, my Department does not routinely collect the information referred to by the Deputy. However, towards the end of last year a request was made to a number of local authorities for information regarding processing times for loan applications.
Based on the information from those local authorities, and from the Housing Agency with regard to its assessment of applications, it is estimated the average time taken to process applications last year was seven weeks. This is in line with the expected timeframe of 6-8 weeks as set out on the RIHL website.
Regarding drawdowns, my Department will continue to publish information on the overall number and value of (i) local authority loan approvals and (ii) local authority loan drawdowns. Information up to Q1 2019 is available on the Department's website at the following link:
http://www.housing.gov.ie/housing/statistics/house-prices-loans-and-profile-borrowers/local-authority-loan-activity
and this information will be updated on a quarterly basis as additional data is compiled.
