John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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221. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the review of the tenant incremental purchase scheme 2016 is now complete; his plans to introduce changes to the scheme; if he will review the minimum reckonable income of persons and allow long-standing tenants to purchase their homes whether on social welfare or not but with proof of savings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49664/17]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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223. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason a person's long-term social welfare payments cannot be taken into account when seeking to purchase a house from a local authority. [49688/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 221 and 223 together.

The 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 and having been in receipt of social housing support for at least one 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.

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.

In line with the commitment given in the Rebuilding Ireland An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, a review of the first 12 months of the Tenant Purchase scheme’s operation has been undertaken. The review has incorporated analysis of comprehensive data received from local authorities regarding the operation of the scheme during 2016 and a wide-ranging public consultation process which saw submissions received from individuals, elected representatives and organisations.

The review is now complete and a full report setting out findings and recommendations has been prepared.  I expect to be in a position to publish the outcome of the review shortly.