Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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467. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason a person who has acquired the necessary funds through alternative means such as inheritance is deemed ineligible to participate in the tenant purchase scheme on the grounds that his or her sole income is from social welfare payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63158/21]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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582. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will amend the tenant purchase scheme to allow carers who have given up work to care for loved ones to avail of the amended scheme to ensure that carers are not discriminated against in terms of purchasing their own homes. [2039/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 467 and 582 together.

The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme.

Section 30 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 provides that the Minister may set out a minimum income required to purchase under the scheme. The minimum income requirement has a dual purpose - it ensures the scheme is sustainable and the tenant purchasing the house has the financial means to maintain and insure the property for the duration of the charged period. For these reasons, certain social welfare payments, including Carer’s Allowance, are not considered when determining an applicant's reckonable income.

In line with commitments in Housing for All, A New Housing Plan for Ireland, I recently introduced changes to the Tenant Purchase Scheme. These included inter aliarevising the minimum income criteria for applicants downwards from €15,000 to €12,500, thereby allowing older tenants in particular (whose only income might be the contributory or non-contributory State pension) to buy their homes if they have the means.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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468. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide additional funding under the housing aid for older people scheme to reflect the unprecedented increase in the costs of materials and labour; if this funding will be 100% grant funded by his Department to the local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63175/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing Adaptation Grants for Older People and People with a Disability currently provides up to 95% grant funding under the Scheme. The Scheme facilitates older people and people with a disability to remain living independently in their own homes.

Funding of €81.25 million is available nationally in 2022 and has been increasing year on year since 2014. As part of the annual estimates and budgetary process, consideration will be given to this funding in future years in line with the commitments in the Programme for Government and the Housing Options for Our Ageing Population Policy Statement (February 2019) and the more recently published Housing for All strategy.

Housing for All commits to undertaking a review of the range of housing grants available to assist with meeting specific housing needs both for our ageing population and people with a disability. A review of the existing grant limits and income thresholds applicable to the grant schemes is currently underway.