Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 31 Jan 2017

Vol. 936 No. 3

Topical Issue Debate

Residential Institutions Redress Scheme

Deputy Willie O'Dea

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue. I thank Deputy Paul Murphy for raising it also. We are here this evening to seek justice for the victims of sexual abuse in Creagh Lane primary school, Limerick city. That the abuse happened is undeniable. The perpetrator has been convicted by the criminal courts and put behind bars. The victims, who fought their case long and hard against almost insurmountable odds, find there are two quite arbitrary and artificial barriers placed in their way by the State when trying to gain access to the State redress system. First, they are supposed to have made a prior complaint. Leaving aside the difficulty in acquiring evidence of a prior complaint back in the 1960s, the requirement requires a grotesque and deliberate misinterpretation of the judgment in the Louise O'Keeffe case. Second, the victims are supposed to have sued the Minister for Education and Skills, which proceedings are no longer statute barred, or were no longer statute barred at a certain time. The requirement to take proceedings against the Minister for Education and Skills flew in the face of all the legal advice the victims got at the time. What group of people, particularly victims, would take legal action against the advice of their solicitors or counsel and against all prevailing legal advice? That legal advice has subsequently been vindicated in not one but a number of High Court decisions.

A redress scheme is a redress scheme, and a redress scheme should be concerned only with whether abuse took place, whether people were affected by it and the level of compensation. We want justice for the victims of the sexual and physical abuse suffered in Creagh Lane primary school. The victims in question have fought long and hard. Their lives have been undermined and, in some cases, destroyed as a result of what they suffered as innocent children in the care of the State. Is the Minister prepared to remove the two barriers to gaining access to the redress fund?

Deputy Paul Murphy

There are some very courageous men and their families in the Visitors Gallery. These are the men who suffered, along with others, the horrific sexual abuse in the late 1960s and who have had the courage to speak out and campaign about it despite all the difficulties they have faced along every avenue they have tried to go down.

This is a very distressing issue, as one realises when one talks to the victims, as one should, but it is also a very simple issue. The men were abused by a teacher being paid by the State. That is uncontested. The man was convicted. Afterwards, the victims faced threats and bullying all over again, this time from the State. The Government attempted to bully them into silence, telling them that if they did not drop their case, the State would pursue them for legal costs. They faced the same bully-boy tactics used against the victims of abuse in 2009 after Louise O'Keeffe lost her initial case. She went on to be vindicated by the European Court of Human Rights, which found that the State was liable for the abuse she faced in school. At that time, the Taoiseach was forced to issue an apology to her.

Despite this, the Government has thus far tried to avoid the consequences of the O'Keeffe ruling. The focus on the need for prior complaints is completely bogus, as is hiding behind the suggestion that the case is statute barred. The man responsible pleaded guilty to serious sexual assault. There is no doubt about or question mark over the fact that the abuse occurred. Despite this, the victims feel they are being persecuted for a second time 50 years on. There are being told they do not qualify for the redress scheme through no fault of their own but through the actions of the State. This is about the State accepting responsibility and apologising. The least the Government could do in this regard would be to allow the victims into the scheme, which was set up precisely for this sort of circumstance.

Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Richard Bruton)

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. I am very much aware of the stress suffered by individuals who have suffered from sexual abuse. I have met such people and understand the concerns expressed by the Deputies. The historical legacy of sexual abuse in Ireland is appalling.

The redress scheme, established under the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002, was intended to deal with very particular circumstances, namely, the abuse of children that occurred while the State was acting to a significant degree in loco parentis, that is, where children had been removed by the State from their parents and placed in institutions for their protection and welfare. The redress scheme has not been extended to any institutions since 2005 and it has been closed for applications since September 2011.

The school referred to by the Deputies was not a residential institution, was not listed on the schedule of institutions covered by the legislation and, because it was a day school, was not eligible for inclusion within the redress scheme. While there were calls for the redress scheme to be extended to other types of institutions and to day schools, the Government decided not to extend it. The redress scheme was set up for particular types of institutions where children were placed in the care and protection of the State and did not have access to parental guidance or influence.

In the Louise O'Keeffe case, the European Court of Human Rights has found that the State has liability in these cases in specific circumstances, namely, where there was a prior complaint against the abuser in question and where the case is not statute barred. In its response to the O'Keeffe judgment, the Government agreed that out-of-court settlements should be offered in those existing cases of school child sexual abuse being brought against the State where the cases come within the terms of the ruling and are not statute barred. The State Claims Agency, which manages such cases on behalf of the State, has made settlement offers in six such cases, which have been accepted. Subsequently, in July 2015, the Government approved proposals on the same basis to offer ex gratia payments up to a maximum of €84,000 to those who initiated legal proceedings in cases of school child sexual abuse against the State but who subsequently discontinued their claims against the State.

Persons who believe their cases come within the criteria can contact the State Claims Agency and provide supporting evidence. At this stage, I cannot say how many cases in this category will satisfy these criteria. Where there is a disagreement between the State Claims Agency and the individual as to whether his circumstances come within the terms of the European Court's judgment, provision is being made for the application to be reviewed by an independent assessor. In these settlements, the State will not be covering the liabilities of the perpetrators, school managers or patrons, or other co-defendants. A person who suffered abuse or injury in school had recourse to report the matter to the relevant school or statutory authorities. While the redress scheme has been closed since 2011, victims of sexual assault, like other injured persons, may bring personal injury cases for compensation through the courts for the injuries and loss they have suffered.

Deputy Willie O'Dea

The Minister referred to an independent assessor to whom people can refer in the event of a disagreement between the claimant and the State Claims Agency. What precisely will be the role of this assessor? What is the point in the assessor if the State will not cover any of the liabilities? Who will cover them?

Is the Minister telling us that he is not going to remove either of the two barriers and will leave the scheme as it is? If so, this will not be the last he hears of it.

Will the Minister agree to meet the victims of Creagh Lane? I appreciate that he has other appointments immediately after this debate, but I can approach his office to arrange a meeting. Will he discuss their case with them?

Deputy Paul Murphy

The Minister did not write that answer, but it is shameful to hide behind such a narrow interpretation of the O'Keeffe ruling. Ms Louise O'Keeffe has commented on the matter of the prior complaint against the abuser in question. She has stated that there is no legal basis for suggesting that it is necessary to establish a prior complaint of sexual abuse before one can succeed. This is simply not the law. The Government is choosing to take an excessively narrow view of the O'Keeffe judgment.

The case is not statute barred as a result of anything that the defendants have done, but as a result of the State's actions over a period of years. The Council of Europe reported that the authorities "explain that they are taking a holistic and flexible approach when assessing the existence of a prior complaint which would include not only complaints". Is what the State is doing flexible and holistic? Does the Minister not agree that this abuse should be included in the scheme? I call on him to meet those who were abused.

Deputy Richard Bruton

As the Deputies recognised, these legal measures were in place long before I came to this job. The position as to when the State has a liability is clear. The Oireachtas decided that the State would have a liability when it was acting in place of the parents. That is how the residential institutions incurred State liability - the State had removed young people from their parents, set itself up to regulate the institutions where they were to be cared for, and failed in its duty.

The situation with a day school is different, in that those schools were managed and run under school patrons and the State did not go to court, as it were, to place people in those institutions. I understand that the court found liability on the part of the State in the Louise O'Keeffe case because the abuser had been identified and was known to the State and, as such, the State should have taken greater action to protect the child. That is where the State's failing occurred. This is the basis on which the Government's legal advice has interpreted the European court ruling. The State must have known that an abuser was in place and did not take the steps required of it to protect children. Unfortunately, this is the basis on which the State can be held liable. As the reply indicated, others may also be liable, but not the State in other circumstances.

The role of the assessor is to provide an independent process to determine whether individual cases fall within the terms of the agreement. The State Claims Agency has arranged a process under which there would be such an independent assessor.

Deputy Willie O'Dea

Will the Minister reply to my request for a meeting with the victims? Will he make them a-----

Deputy Richard Bruton

I will consider that matter, but I do not have the capacity to deal with the issue. The legislation is clear and I cannot just change this situation. That is the legal advice that I have received. I will consider the request, but I do not want to give the impression that I am in a position to introduce a scheme of compensation when the established rules as to when the State is liable are clear. I do not want to give a false sense of expectation.

Deputy Paul Murphy

At least meet them to explain that.

Deputy Willie O'Dea

Will the Minister meet them?

Mental Health Services Provision

Deputy Eugene Murphy

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, for taking this debate. I have been highlighting the need to fast-track the appointment of a child psychologist in north County Roscommon for a number of months. It was one of the main points that I raised with the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton, during a recent Oireachtas briefing for Members from Roscommon and Galway in light of the 36 Syrian children who will be seeking refuge in Ballaghaderreen in the coming weeks. An immediate appointment is also necessary for the children of County Roscommon who have been languishing on an ever-growing waiting list since last summer. I have tabled parliamentary questions on this matter and have had this matter listed for a Topical Issue debate. In recent days, the Department of Health has approved a replacement post and a panel is in place. This is welcome. The pressure paid off in the end. However, it is important that this vacancy be treated as a priority and filled as soon as possible.

Since many of the Syrian children coming to Ballaghaderreen will undoubtedly have suffered untold traumas, it is vital that the post be filled before they arrive in the first week of March. Thirty-six children will be included in the group of 82 Syrians. Of these, 13 are under four years of age, 19 are aged between five and 12 years and four are over 13 years of age. There is a child psychologist covering the south of the country, but none is covering the remainder. The child psychologist who was covering north Roscommon is on sick leave and the post has been vacant since before last summer.

Many Roscommon children are on the waiting list but are unable to access child psychological services. For example, a six year old boy was referred by his GP. After several weeks of phone calls, his parents finally received a call informing them that the psychologist looking after school-aged children had been on sick leave since last March and that a locum could not be found. Officials could not say when the service would become available again, but they indicated that no children had been assessed since March and that the waiting list would be significant. The school decided that it would use the single assessment that it was allocated each year to secure services for the child. His school spent several weeks trying to find out when the assessment would take place, only to hear a few days before the Christmas break that no assessments would be offered to the school, as the psychologist was still on sick leave and no arrangements were being made for the post. The family is not asking for preferential treatment or to skip the queue. His parents just want to see him have access to the services that they contribute towards and that are supposed to be available in the public health care system.

Many of the Syrian children arriving in the county will have suffered a great deal of heartache and brutality. They will need the support of child psychological services. This issue must be addressed. While I welcome the panel's creation, we must fill the vacancy urgently for the young people of County Roscommon who desperately need this service. The list is growing. We must deal with that, as we do not want long lists in situations such as this one. The Minister of State will agree on the importance of having child psychological services.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am advised by the HSE that there is a vacancy in the psychology service in Roscommon arising from an extended sick leave and that a replacement post has been approved. I understand that there is a basic grade psychology panel in place and that the vacancy is being treated as a priority and will be filled as soon as possible, taking account of the recruitment process.

Primary care services are usually the first point of contact for families seeking help. With appropriate information and training, GPs are best placed to recognise risk factors for mental health issues, provide treatment or advice where appropriate and refer to more appropriate services or specialist services when this is indicated. Issues of a mild to moderate degree benefit from intervention at primary care level. Many children and adolescents experience mild emotional difficulties, which are often transient and do not require specialist intervention, but require support from other services.

The HSE's national service plan provides €5 million to address psychology services in primary care. This allocation aims to support services to work more effectively through increased resources and the development of new ways of working both within primary care and between primary care and mental health services. Primary care and mental health divisions in the HSE prepared joint plans for a more integrated primary care-based psychology service to focus on providing better access and using a multidisciplinary and multi-method approach. The approach would address existing deficits and target areas of greatest need.

From the funding, the HSE proposes to provide more than 100 assistant psychologist posts to deliver rapid access, low-intensity psychological interventions for young people with mild to moderate mental health problems. That is currently being considered in the Department. In addition, 20 additional staff grade psychologists for children in geographical areas, where there are no or an inadequate numbers of posts in place, are currently being recruited.

The dedicated funding will also provide for the delivery a computerised cognitive behavioural therapy, cCBT, programme for young people. The additional posts will provide services to service users under 18 years of age to address those waiting for treatment in the mental health and primary care divisions, while the online resource will also be developed for adolescents with mild to moderate mental health presentations.

Resources are allocated to work towards ensuring there is a consistent baseline in terms of staffing across primary care services with the areas of greatest need being addressed in the first instance. Working in partnership with other service provision stakeholders, primary care psychology services will adopt a stepped care model of service provision in child and adolescent services. These services will include rapid assessment for all referrals, a single point of contact to the health care system for all non-crisis and non-complex emotional or behavioural referrals, and a continuum of care through integrated working with primary care and secondary care professionals and with community agencies. Service provision will be monitored and evaluated regularly to ensure the resources are providing the new model of stepped care provision for young people. The Deputy may rest assured that my Department, in conjunction with the HSE, will continue to closely monitor planned service improvements for this key care area.

Deputy Eugene Murphy

I acknowledge the Minister of State's response. I know her heart is in the right place and that she takes her brief seriously. Two parliamentary questions were tabled on one of the cases to which I referred and I will outline it. I was told that the case was referred to the primary care child and family service in May 2016. I was informed the psychologist for the area is on long-term leave and national HSE approval is awaited for the temporary backfill of the post but, unfortunately, until such time as this position is filled there are insufficient resources within psychology to cross cover for this vacancy. In other words, there is a shortage of money. The reply finished with the line: "I trust this information is of assistance to you."

The second reply to one of the cases raised indicated that the psychologist for this area is on long-term leave and the PCMG has approved this backfill. I was told that the situation is currently awaiting national HSE approval. The reality in the case of one of those families, which went to a private psychologist and paid significant money to have the child assessed, is that they were told their six-year old needs support because he is suffering from autism but nothing is available at the moment in Roscommon. Some time will be available in the school come September but the centre of excellence in Athenry which deals with autism cases has a two-year waiting list. We have significant problems within the system. I am sure the Minister of State will acknowledge that. I do not want children who are five, six or seven years old not being assessed, or even if they are assessed not getting the treatment for a long period. The Minister of State is aware of the case I have outlined. I urge her to give it her best shot and ensure a child psychologist is appointed to Roscommon because we need one currently.

Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy

Deputy Eugene Murphy will be pleased the replacement post has finally been approved by the HSE and that finding a replacement is being treated as a matter of priority. I am told by the HSE that the intention is to fill the post as soon as possible. The Deputy will understand that I cannot comment on the specific cases he has raised but it is helpful to outline them.

In response to what the Deputy mentioned earlier in terms of the refugees coming to Ballaghaderreen, the Irish refugee protection programme was established by the Government in September 2015. The intention is to provide a safe haven for persons seeking international protection. A programme office has been established by the Department of Justice and Equality which will oversee the programme and support the work of the task force. One of the objectives of the structures is to ensure there is a co-ordinated approach to addressing the health care and support needs of the people arriving under the programme. A number of health-related initiatives are already in place to support refugees. In that context the Health Service Executive is working to assess the overall care needs of the group that is due to arrive in Ballaghaderreen, both at local level and with Tusla, and expects to put appropriate measures in place to address those needs. Attention to the provision of counselling and related psychological support services will form part of that approach. The Department will be kept informed on all progress as it happens.

Disabilities Assessments

Deputy Seamus Healy

The Disability Act 2005 provides for the assessment of health and education needs of persons with disability and provides for services to meet those needs. Section 9(5) of the Act also provides that the executive shall cause an assessment of applicants to be commenced within three months of the date of receipt of the application. The background information and supporting documentation refers to the need for services to be provided early in life to ameliorate a disability. They set out the procedure for the application for the assessment of needs. It states that the Act provides that the assessments must be started within three months of the application and also provides that the HSE must complete the assessment within three months. That is a legal requirement of the HSE as set out in the Act. Unfortunately, that is not the situation that pertains in south Tipperary and the legal entitlement is being breached. Children are not being assessed within the three-month period. There are huge delays in the assessment of needs of children. The service is broken and we need an immediate solution. The current situation for children in terms of the assessment of needs in south Tipperary is totally unacceptable.

A considerable number of parents have contacted me on the matter. I will give some indication of the difficulties and delays that arise. A parent whose child was due to start an assessment on 19 January was told recently the assessment would not commence until April 2019, in two years' time. That is simply not good enough. The child is now over three years of age and will be more than five years old in two years' time. As we all know, early intervention is crucial to ensure children with disabilities are properly looked after and have services provided to them.

Where an assessment of needs has not been completed, there are consequent delays in the provision of other services, for example, resource teaching, special needs assistants, speech therapy and a range of services children with special needs require to ameliorate their position. I urge the Minister of State to take steps to ensure the situation in south Tipperary is addressed and that additional staff are made available to the service there as a priority to ensure the legal entitlement of children to an assessment within a three-month period is fulfilled.

Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy

I am pleased to have the opportunity to update Deputy Healy and the House on the progress under way in developing services for children with disabilities and the current position on waiting times for assessment of needs in particular with regard to the disability services in south Tipperary.

Under the Disability Act 2005, a child can request an assessment of need. The HSE recognises that it faces significant challenges in respect of meeting the statutory timeframes which apply to the assessment of need process. The number of applications for assessment under the Act has increased each year since the Act was introduced. More than 6,000 applications were received countrywide in 2016. However, as of 31 December 2016, 100% of applications for south Tipperary, had commenced within the statutory timeframe. At 31 December, there were a total of 42 applications overdue for completion with 14 of these overdue by less than one month and 32 overdue by less than three months. In some individual assessments, it is more challenging to adhere to the statutory timelines, for example. Where a psychology assessment is required, this may necessitate a number of visits over a prolonged period of time. This would be true for instance regarding borderline cases on the autism spectrum.

The Disability Act 2005 makes allowances for these exceptional circumstances in individual assessments as regards the timeline for completion of assessments. In south Tipperary, it is acknowledged that there is currently a deficit in psychology services, a function which is essential for the completion of the assessment of need report. However, recruitment is under way to fill an additional post for a senior psychology post for the early intervention team. I know the Deputy will welcome this news. Interviews are to be held in February. The current Programme for a Partnership Government commits this Government to improving services and increasing supports for people with disabilities, particularly for early assessment and intervention for children with special needs.

The HSE has recognised that early intervention services and services for school aged children with disabilities need to be improved and organised more effectively. To this end, a major reconfiguration of therapy resources for children with disabilities aged up to 18 years is well under way. This involves bringing staff from different service providers together into network teams and is called the national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people, nought to 18 years. Since 2014, the roll out of the national programme on progressing disability services for children and young people, nought to 18 years, has entailed targeted investment of €14 million and the provision of 275 additional therapy staff to increase services for children with all disabilities.

Deputy Seamus Healy

I acknowledge the Minister of State's reply and welcome the statement that a senior psychology post for the early intervention team is to be filled and that interviews will take place in February. I ask that every effort be made to fill the post as quickly as possible. As we all know, it can take time to fill a post even after successful interviews so I ask that the HSE be instructed to ensure that the post is filled without delay and that if possible, a temporary appointment be made in the intervening period to address the situation. I know the Minister of State accepts that a waiting time of two years for a child to be assessed is simply unacceptable. Obviously, it also delays other services that should be available for children with special needs.

I take this opportunity to refer to the situation arising from the assessment of needs at national level. There is a significant delay in respect of complaints with over 1,000 complaints still to be dealt with. I understand that there is only one individual in the appeals office nationally with no full-time administrative support staff. This situation is also unmanageable and needs to be addressed urgently by the Department and the HSE. I welcome the Minister of State's response with regard to south Tipperary and hope interviews will be held and that the job will be filled shortly. If there is any delay, I ask that an effort be made to ensure that the post is filled on a temporary basis.

Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy

Clearly, I regret, as does the HSE, the difficulties some families experience in accessing the assessment of needs service. The HSE has confirmed that it is working to reduce waiting times and address the issues arising for all children and their families through a number of measures. The HSE is pursuing the filling of vacant posts and is highlighting the need for additional disability and psychology positions. It has produced an analysis of service demand and resource requirements and the Department will consider this as appropriate.

Other measures the HSE has taken with regard to assessment of need waiting lists in south Tipperary include validating the list in operation with a focus on those waiting the longest. The HSE has also outsourced limited services for children to reduce waiting times. In respect of the Deputy's final point about the appeals office, I do not have information about that but I will certainly make inquiries and come back to him on that.

Tenant Purchase Scheme Eligibility

Deputy Jonathan O'Brien

This concerns the tenant incremental purchase scheme 2016. This scheme is operated by local authorities and gives tenants the opportunities to buy their homes. As the Minister of State will be aware, certain categories of houses under the ownership of local authorities cannot be sold to tenants under legislation. These include properties that have been transferred to a planning authority in accordance with and agreement under section 96 of the Planning and Development Act - in other words, Part V houses. If a developer builds a private estate, a certain percentage of houses in it are handed over to the local authority. If someone is a council tenant living in one of those properties, they are unable to buy their homes under the legislation.

I raise this issue for two reasons. The first is because I wonder whether the Department has any plans to review the policy and make a once-off offer to those tenants. I am dealing with a constituent who has been a tenant in one of these properties for the past ten years. She qualifies under all of the other criteria - in other words, she has been a tenant for ten years and is within the income limits but, unfortunately, she is in this category of houses which under the legislation cannot be sold or transferred. The sad thing is that these tenants will probably never have the opportunity to buy their own homes unless there is some review of the legislation. They do not earn enough to get mortgages to buy brand new homes. The point of a tenant purchase scheme is to give tenants who have been living in a local authority the opportunity to buy their homes at a reduced price.

The second issue I want to raise concerns local authorities. The lady to whom I referred got a letter in June 2011 asking for expressions of interest under the 2011 scheme. At that moment in time, she did not go ahead with it because she did not meet the other criteria - in other words, she had not been a tenant for ten years. She received another letter requesting an expression of interest in August 2016. I have no issue with the letter because it clearly stated on behalf of Cork County Council that a tenant was only qualified for the scheme if they had been occupying a property which was available for sale from the council. The letter referred to the tenant handbook which outlines the properties tenants are unable to buy. Unfortunately, the tenant did not refer to the handbook. My issue is that the council has a list of these properties and should not send out letters to tenants by name and address when it knows very well from the outset that these tenants cannot buy one of these houses under the scheme. She received the letter on 17 August 2016 and made her expression of interest. The council asked for a set of accounts for herself and her husband.

She went through all that rigmarole and paid a €100 deposit. It took the council three months to write back to inform her she was not eligible under the legislation. This family's hopes were raised that they would finally be in a position to buy their own home, only to be informed that this was, in fact, not possible. Are there any plans to introduce a once-off derogation to allow tenants in that position the opportunity to buy their homes?

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Catherine Byrne)

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, cannot be here and has asked me to respond on his behalf.

The incremental tenant purchase scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016 and is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 governing the scheme provide for a number of specified classes of properties to be excluded from sale, including units provided to local authorities under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, houses designed for occupation by older people, group Traveller housing, and houses provided for persons with disabilities making the transition from congregated settings to community-based living. Local authorities may also exclude houses for reasons of proper estate management of stock, on account of their structural condition, or on the basis of proposals the authority may have to carry out remedial works in the estate concerned or regenerate the area in which the house is located.

The provisions of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, are designed to enable the development of mixed-tenure, sustainable communities. Part V units are excluded from the incremental tenant purchase scheme to ensure units delivered under that mechanism remain available for people in need of social housing support and that the original policy goals of the legislation are not eroded over time. The continued development of mixed-tenure communities remains very important in promoting social integration. In addition, Part 3 of the 2014 Act obliges tenants to meet certain criteria in order to be eligible for the scheme. These include having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support for at least one year.

In the determination of the minimum reckonable income, housing authorities may include income from a number of different sources and classes, such as employment, private pensions, maintenance payments and certain social welfare payments, including pensions, where the social welfare payment is secondary to employment income. I understand there may be some tenants whose application under the scheme was refused on the basis they do not meet this income criterion. This element of the scheme rules was introduced to safeguard the sustainability of the scheme itself. It is essential that an applicant's income is long term and sustainable in nature. This is necessary to ensure 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.

Deputy Jonathan O'Brien

I acknowledge the regulations were put in place to ensure communities were of a mixed tenure and to enable integration. However, if the tenant to whom I referred were to buy her house in the morning, she would still be the same person. It will not change the make-up of the community if she transitions from a social housing tenant to the owner of her home by way of the tenant purchase scheme. I would understand if the property in question was designed for somebody with a disability, in which case it would be in the best interests of the council to retain it in the longer term given the huge shortage of properties suitable for persons with disabilities. However, we are talking about a three-bedroom semi-detached house which has not been upgraded or refurbished to make it accessible. The tenant and her family have been living there for ten years and, under the current legislation, will never have the opportunity to purchase it. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to consider introducing a once-off break to allow people like this woman the opportunity to buy their own home under the tenant purchase scheme? It would not have to be open-ended arrangement. In fact, something similar was done in the past, in 2011, when the scheme was opened up for 12 months. I am calling for an exemption, for a limited time period, for people in the same position as the tenant to whom I referred, under Part V of the Planning and Development Act, as amended.

Deputy Catherine Byrne

In line with the commitment given in the Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, a review of all aspects of the first 12 months of operation of the scheme is being undertaken by the Minister's Department in close consultation with local authorities. The Minister will consider the need for any change in the terms and conditions of the scheme based on the evidence presented by the review, which he expects to be completed by the end of the first quarter. As part of the review process, the Department is engaged in a public consultation process which will inform the outcome of the review. The Minister encourages all those interested in the scheme to make a contribution to the process. Full details of how this can be done are on the Department's website.

I have noted the details of the resident to whom the Deputy referred. It was very unfair that she received a letter from Cork County Council indicating she was eligible for the tenant purchase scheme before being informed the council had made a mistake. I understand the family's frustration and disappointment and concur with the Deputy's sentiments in that regard.