Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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90. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will consider extending the tenant purchase scheme to cover persons in receipt of carer's allowance or disability allowance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32382/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came in to operation on 1 January 2016 and offers eligible local authority tenants the opportunity to buy their homes. 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 1 year.

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 2014 Act. 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. At present, as set out in the Ministerial direction on reckonable income, Carer's Allowance is not included as a secondary source of reckonable income. However, Disability Allowance can be included as a secondary source of income.

In line with the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Governmentand reaffirmed in Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, it is intended that a review of the Scheme will be commenced in January 2017 following the first 12 months of operation and any changes to the terms and conditions of the scheme which are considered necessary based on the evidence gathered at that stage will be brought forward.