Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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557. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the reason persons applying for the tenant (increment) purchase scheme 2016 must have an income level of €15,000; if there are any exceptions to this rule; his plans to review this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24673/16]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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561. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the new tenant purchase scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24698/16]

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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574. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government If he will revise the recently introduced local authority tenant purchase scheme to allow persons in receipt of social protection payments who have the ability to purchase their local authority house, to be included in the scheme; if he will introduce a mechanism that would calculate a person's or families ability to pay regardless of their income, be it a social protection payment or employment payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24783/16]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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579. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the status of persons (details supplied) who are not eligible to buy their local authority houses due to being in receipt of social protection payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24794/16]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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581. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if it is departmental policy that certain two bedroom local authority houses are excluded from the tenant purchase scheme or if a local authority can decide which housing stock can be sold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24797/16]

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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592. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding local authority housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25140/16]

Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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596. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will review the income threshold requirement in the tenant purchase scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25211/16]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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606. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the changes he will make to the current tenant purchase scheme; if he will include households that have an adequate long-term income from the Department of Social Protection in the scheme even if they have no income from employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25437/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 557, 561, 574, 579, 581, 592, 596 and 606 together.

The new Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. 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, have been in receipt of social housing support for at least 1 year and have been allocated a house under a local authority allocation scheme.

The minimum reckonable income for eligibility under the Scheme is determined by the relevant housing authority in accordance with the detailed provisions of the Ministerial Direction issued under Sections 24(3) and (4) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014. In the determination of the minimum reckonable income, housing authorities can include income from a number of different sources and classes, such as from employment, private pensions, maintenance payments and certain social welfare payments, including pensions, where the social welfare payment is secondary to employment income.

In determining reckonable income, the income of 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/co-habitant of a tenant who lives in the house with them.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the scheme, it is essential that an applicant’s income is of a long-term and sustainable nature. This 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 the ownership of, and responsibility for, the house from the local authority to the tenant.

The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 governing the Scheme provides for a number of specified classes of houses to be excluded from sale, including 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 Regulations do not exclude two bedroom houses from sale under the scheme.

Housing authorities may, within the provisions of the Regulations, exclude certain houses which, in the opinion of the authority, should not be sold for reasons such as proper stock or estate management. It is a matter for each individual housing authority to administer the Scheme in its operational area in line with the over-arching provisions of the governing legislation for the scheme, and in a manner appropriate to its housing requirements.

The financing of any house sold under the Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme is a separate matter from the eligibility criteria for the scheme. In order to participate in the scheme, the tenant must, in the first instance, meet the eligibility criteria as set out in the relevant legislation. If the tenant is deemed eligible under the scheme, he or she may fund the purchase of a house from one, or a combination of, own resources or a mortgage provided by a financial institution or a local authority house purchase loan.

In line with the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government and reaffirmed in Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, I intend to undertake a review of the scheme in January 2017 following the first 12 months of operation and I will bring forward any changes to the terms and conditions of the scheme which are considered necessary based on the evidence gathered at that stage.