Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for tabling this Commencement matter. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is unavailable today and has asked me to take this matter on his behalf.

The Housing (Sale of the Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 provide the basis for the tenant incremental purchase scheme for existing local authority houses. The scheme, as the Senator will know, is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support for at least one year.

The 2015 regulations governing this scheme provide for a number of specified classes of houses to be excluded from sale.These include: houses provided to local authorities under Part V of the Planning and Development Act, as amended; houses specifically designed for older persons; group Traveller housing; and houses provided to facilitate people with disabilities transferring from institutional care to community-based living. The provisions in Part V of the Act, as amended, are designed to enable the development of mixed-tenure, sustainable communities. Under the terms of the tenant incremental purchase scheme 2016, Part V homes, regardless of when they were tenanted, are excluded in order to ensure that homes delivered under this mechanism will remain available for people in need of social housing support and that the original policy goals of the legislation are not eroded over time.

The continued development of mixed-tenure communities remains very important in promoting social integration. Local authorities may, within the provisions of the regulations, exclude certain houses which in their opinion should not be sold for reasons such as proper stock or estate management. It is a matter for each individual local authority to administer the scheme in its operational area with the overarching provisions of the governing legislation for the scheme and in a manner appropriate to its housing requirements.