The Central Bank of Ireland has set limits on what people can borrow by placing limits on the Loan to Value (the amount you can borrow against the value of a property) and the Loan to Income (the amount you can borrow relative to your income). You can read more about the Central Bank Mortgage Measures here.
To get an exemption from these rules, the first thing to bear in mind is that you can usually only get an exemption under one of the lending rules. A bank will rarely allow you to breach both the loan-to-income limit as well as the loan-to-value ratio. It’s either one or the other.
When a lender is considering whether to give you an exemption they will look at your creditworthiness and the quality of your mortgage application. Generally, Banks also tend to give exemptions to people on higher incomes, which means around €50,000 or above for a single Applicant and €75,000 and above for a joint application.
Finally, it’s important to state that if you are thinking of switching your mortgage, the Central Bank’s rules don’t apply. However, most banks won’t let you switch if you are in negative equity and most will require you to have at least 10% equity in your home.