24. (1) In this section—

“Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“civil partner” means each person in a civil partnership or legal relationship to which section 3 of the Act of 2010 relates and who are living together;

“cohabitant” means a cohabitant within the meaning of section 172(1) of the Act of 2010;

“reckonable income” shall be construed in accordance with subsections (3) and (4);

“spouse” means each person of a married couple who are living together.

(2) In calculating the annual income of a tenant who has applied to purchase a house under this Part, a housing authority—

(a) shall include the reckonable income of all tenants of that house, and

(b) where a tenant has a spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, shall include in the calculation the reckonable income of the spouse or civil partner of the tenant resident in the dwelling or of any cohabitant of the tenant resident in the dwelling.

(3) The Minister may from time to time issue directions in writing to housing authorities or to a class of housing authorities concerning the manner in which each authority shall determine reckonable income for the purposes of this Part.

(4) Directions issued under subsection (3) may specify—

(a) the sources and classes of income that a housing authority shall include in determining reckonable income and the sources and classes of income that a housing authority shall disregard in so determining,

(b) whether a housing authority shall deduct from gross income any specified payments by a tenant and, where applicable, by a person to whom subsection (2) (b) relates, that relate to income, and such specified payments may include—

(i) income tax,

(ii) universal social charge under Part 18D of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, and

(iii) contributions within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Consolidated Contributions and Insurability) Regulations 1996 (S.I. No. 312 of 1996),

and

(c) the information and particulars to be provided by a tenant to enable reckonable income to be calculated and verified.

(5) A housing authority to which directions have issued under this section shall comply with those directions.

(6) Without prejudice to subsection (7), whenever the Minister gives directions under this section, he or she shall publish the directions or cause them to be published in such manner as he or she considers appropriate in the circumstances.

(7) A housing authority shall make available for inspection by members of the public, without charge, on the Internet and at its principal office and such other places as it considers appropriate, during normal working hours, a copy of any directions issued to it under this section.