13.—(1) In this section “mortgage lender” has the same meaning as in the Central Bank Act, 1997.

(2) The Minister may, from time to time, in the interests of consumer protection or for the purposes of his or her functions in relation to housing or the development and co-ordination of housing policy or relevant financial and economic policies, require mortgage lenders to provide to the Minister such information as the Minister specifies, including the following:

(a) in respect of a person to whom a mortgage lender has granted approval for a mortgage or granted a mortgage, his or her age, gender, F5[civil status within the meaning of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010] and income level, the nature of his or her employment and whether the person is a first time buyer;

(b) the purpose, amount, type and term of the mortgage and the applicable rate of interest;

(c) the price, age, size and type of house in respect of which a mortgage is sought and its location by reference to the relevant country or, where the house is located in the State, the relevant county or postal district.

(3) The information referred to in subsection (2)—

(a) shall be provided at the times and in the form and manner that the Minister requires, and

(b) shall not include information that directly identifies or may identify a person and, in particular, it shall not include the names, dates of birth or addresses of persons in respect of whom information is requested or provided.

(4) (a) Subject to subsection (5), where information is provided to the Minister under this section, the information shall not be disclosed by any person receiving, inputting, storing, managing, processing, analysing, accessing or using the information, except in accordance with any arrangements that may be made by the Minister with the mortgage lenders concerned.

(b) Information that is provided to the Minister under this section or that is derived from an analysis of such information shall not be disclosed where it directly or indirectly identifies or may identify a person or mortgage lender.

(5) Subsection (4) shall not apply to a disclosure of information which is required by or under any enactment or by a rule of law or order of a court.

(6) The Freedom of Information Act, 1997, is amended in Part I of the Third Schedule by inserting—

(a) in column (1), “No. — of 2002”,

(b) in column (2), “Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2002”, and

(c) in column (3), “Section 13”.