Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to discuss the need for the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to amend the terms of qualification for the new tenant purchase scheme so that people on social welfare are not excluded. It has been over two years since a tenant purchase scheme was brought back to local authorities to enable tenants to purchase their homes. I am very disappointed in this.

How can people apply? There are six conditions, but three are very serious and need to be addressed urgently. One must have an annual income of at least €15,000 and must not have bought a house under an earlier tenant purchase scheme, but there are special circumstances which should be addressed in the case of this latter condition. The last condition is that a tenant must have paid his or her water charges. I must express my disappointment at the fact that tenants on long-term social welfare are now excluded and not eligible to purchase their houses. Old age pensioners who have worked all their lives and received their redundancy payments are being told by the local authority that they cannot purchase their houses under the new tenant purchase scheme for 2016.

I know of a family which came into money and went to the local authority seeking to buy their house but were told they could not do so. If somebody wins money, is left money or gets redundancy, he or she cannot purchase the house, and that is absolutely unfair. The exclusion of Part V properties from the scheme may discriminate against tenants allocated such dwellings, and this is discrimination against people on social welfare who want to buy their houses. The provision in Circular 44/2015, which excludes local authorities from completing the sale of properties to tenants with outstanding water charges, is also unfair.

I ask the Minister to look at the new tenant purchase scheme. It has been two and a half years since there was a tenant purchase scheme in any local authority, and now this scheme has come in, but it takes us backwards instead of forwards. I welcome the scheme, but the three issues I have raised need to be urgently examined and changed.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I thought she wanted to concentrate on the exclusion of people on social welfare, but she raised other issues such as water charges and Part V properties, with which I will deal as far as I can. The new tenant (incremental) purchase scheme for existing local authority houses came into operation on 1 January 2016. It is not two years old but six months old. It was a long time awaited and long needed-----

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail)
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On a point of order, we have had no tenant purchase scheme in any local authority for nearly three years.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I agree that there was no scheme for a number of years, but the Senator said this scheme was two years old and, for the record, I wanted to clarify that it is not. It is six months old. I spoke on this in the Dáil last week and I agreed that we needed to review it, but not six months into it. Our intention is to review it 12 months after it came into operation, which will be next January. The scheme 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. They must have been in receipt of social housing support for at least one year and have been allocated a house under a local authority allocation scheme. Similarly to other incremental purchase model schemes currently operating, the scheme involves progressive discounts for purchasers linked to household income, ranging from 40% to 60% depending on income, with the housing authority placing an incremental charge on the house equivalent to the discount given, and this will stay in place for 20, 25 or 30 years. The Senator knocks the scheme, but I think it is a very attractive scheme and there is a good offer in comparison to other schemes for those who fit the criteria. It is based on income, rather than number of years a person has been in the house, but I agree that it is not a perfect scheme and that there are parts we need to change.

The minimum reckonable income for eligibility under the scheme is determined by the relevant housing authority in line with ministerial directions. It can include income from a number of different sources and classes, such as from employment, private pensions and maintenance payments. The reckonable income can also include most social welfare payments, including pensions, where the social welfare payment is secondary to employment income. The Senator raised this issue and we need to look at it. If people are reliant on disability benefit or allowance they will be probably be reliant on it for the next number of years, and I have a difficulty with their being precluded from buying a house. We do need to look at the criteria to see if we can accommodate this and change it to allow for them to qualify, bearing in mind that a person who purchases a house has the responsibility for maintaining the house, insuring it and paying all the various charges, including water charges if they come back. There are costs after one buys a house, and just because somebody has a windfall it does not guarantee that they can run the house thereafter. That is an issue we must examine.However, I accept the Senator's point. If someone wins a decent amount of money, he or she should be in a position to buy a house that has been the family home for a long time. That is something we should be able to allow for as well. We will examine the matter. I have an open mind in terms of examining all the criteria and reviewing the position.

It is important to note that the income of all the tenants of the house, including adult children that are joint tenants, can be included, as can the income of the spouse, civil partner or other partner or cohabitant of a tenant who lives in the house with them.

It is essential that the income of an applicant under the scheme is of a long-term and sustainable nature, which goes back to the point I made. Having a lump sum of money is not always enough. That is necessary to ensure that the tenant purchasing the house is in a financial position, as the owner, to maintain and insure the property for the duration of the charged period, in compliance with the conditions of the order transferring ownership of and responsibility for the house from the local authority to the tenant.

The new tenant (incremental) purchase scheme is in the early stages of implementation - the first six months - and my Department is monitoring the operation of the scheme in consultation with housing authorities. I gave a commitment to the Senator's colleague Deputy Barry Cowen and others during the Dáil debate that we will engage on the issue. We will talk to anyone who is interested. I am open to all ideas on criteria. We will analyse all the ideas with a view to making changes, if need be, from next year on.

In line with the commitment in the new programme for a partnership Government, a review of the 2016 scheme will be undertaken following its first 12 months of operation. Any changes to the terms and conditions of the scheme that are considered necessary will be introduced based on the evidence gathered at that stage. I hope that provides clarity on the issue for Senator Murnane O'Connor.

The matter of Part V properties was previously raised. There is a logic behind not allowing Part V houses to be sold. The aim of the scheme is to provide for a mix of housing in a given area, and if we sell those houses we lose the opportunity to have a social mix, which is the intention. The scheme is designed that way for a reason. If we sell all the houses built under Part V then the aims of the scheme could be compromised. There is logic behind the approach taken. I am happy to tease out the matter. I accept the reasoning behind the Senator's suggestion but there is a logic to the approach being taken in not allowing Part V houses to be sold.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail)
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To clarify, the scheme was introduced in January and the local authority in Carlow only sent out the forms in March, so in my eyes the period in question for the scheme to be examined was only three months. My point is that no scheme was in place for the previous two and a half years. We have a housing crisis. From what the Minister of State said, everything must be addressed, including the desire of people with disabilities and people on local authority waiting lists to buy their houses, but we must also make sure that people are given the chance to get a home. More than 2,500 people are on the housing waiting list in the Carlow County Council area, so it is important that housing is a priority issue and that people are given a home in which to live.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I totally agree with Senator Murnane O'Connor that housing should be a priority area. We have said that very clearly in the debate in this House and in the Dáil. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has said that the number one priority for the Government is to tackle the housing situation. In the next couple of weeks we will roll out the action plan for housing, which will probably have a new title at that stage. The aim is to set out all the areas in which we believe we can make progress by removing barriers and fast-tracking development if need be, in order both to deliver more social houses and to increase the supply of private housing, because there is a problem in respect of both.

I was in Carlow last week turning the sod on a development. Carlow County Council has been proactive-----

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail)
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Yes, it is very good.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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-----and I believe it has a couple more projects in the pipeline as well. The project on which I officiated involved ten houses, and I believe three or four other projects are due to start this year as well. The council there has been very proactive. I accept that there is a waiting list, but a plan is in place to address that and Carlow County Council is doing quite well in that regard. We will encourage all local authorities to do much more where they can. We must find them the resources to do that. We will need extra money but we must also change the way we do business. First, we must increase the supply of social and affordable housing, and we must also increase the supply of private housing because there is a shortage of houses across the board. Other areas on which we must focus include the provision of housing for people with disabilities, older people and those who wish to rent. We must increase the choice that is available across the board.

Part V has been mentioned a couple of times. It is important to analyse what is involved because there is a danger that we will erode the intention behind the measure if we allow people to sell on Part V houses.