Government did not execute perfectly plan to appoint housing ‘tsar’ – Taoiseach

By Cate McCurry and David Young, PA

The Taoiseach has admitted the Government has not “executed perfectly” a plan to appoint a housing “tsar”, after Brendan McDonagh withdrew his name amid the controversy.

Micheál Martin said Mr McDonagh, who he spoke to on Thursday, does not want to be part of the ongoing dispute.

Mr McDonagh’s decision came after sharp questioning of a mooted €430,000 salary to become chief executive of the Government’s new housing activation office.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said the housing delivery unit was approved by Cabinet this week, but the Government had made no decision on personnel or their salaries.

The Government had been expected to appoint Mr McDonagh, chief executive of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), to lead the new unit.

Speaking in Cork on Friday, Mr Martin said that no Government party has an issue with the establishment of the office, which is in the Programme for Government.

He also rejected suggestions that Mr Harris blocked the appointment of Mr McDonagh.

The Fianna Fáil leader said that Minister for Housing James Browne started working on setting up the office, and was asked to work “with speed”.

According to Mr Martin, it was agreed in March to appoint an external person to head up the office.

He said that Mr McDonagh’s name surfaced during internal meetings at the department in March and April.

“The idea being that – on the bigger sites – to unblock them. This was in the Housing Commission report.

“It’s in the Sinn Féin manifesto, by the way, identical in terms of what the proposals for what the minister put forward,” Mr Martin said.

“The Minister, then, as would be normal, did speak to Minister (for Finance) Pashcal Donohoe, because Minister Donohoe would be the line Minister for the NTMA (National Treasury Management Agency) and Nama because Brendan McDonagh’s name did surface in internal meetings in the Department of Housing during March and April, because it was known he would be coming to an end of his time in Nama.”

Mr Martin said there was “no issue with the quality” of Mr McDonagh.

“Paschal would have worked with him and has very strong admiration for him. So as everybody around the table, issues that arise, salary had never been discussed, to be fair,” he added.

“The focus of the Secretary General in housing, in his discussions with the NTMA, was around the mechanism of secondment. That’s the story, basically.

“The minister went through the process from a substance perspective, (and) we’re going to continue on.

“We’re going persevere. We’re going to establish the Housing Activation Office. It’s not about one individual.

“It’s an important additional aspect to dealing with the housing issue, to get down and dirty it in terms of specific large sites with a view to unblocking them to enable acceleration of housing development.”

Opposition parties have criticised the Government over how it proposed to appoint the housing “tsar”.

On Thursday, Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty said it was “embarrassing” that the Government was prepared to pay someone €500,000 to take on the Housing Minister’s duties.

However, Mr Martin accused Sinn Féin of “hypocrisy” after they proposed setting up a similar office in their general election manifesto.

“I do think, though, that there’s need for reflection in politics generally. I just witnessed what went on in the Dáil.

“I witnessed Mary Lou sort of coming in in high sort of dungeons, saying, it’s a job share. It’s exactly what Mary Lou proposed during the election. It’s exactly what Eoin O Broin proposed,” he added.

“Eoin went on radio and said, oh, it has no statutory underpinning. If you read what Eoin O Broin wrote in his manifesto, he said he would set up a housing activation office on a non-statutory basis, without legislation.

“So that is, that is hypocrisy, and I just stand back from it all and say, what is the agenda here? Okay, you can criticise us for not executing this perfectly, or whatever, but that’s not the point.

“The point is, why is there tendency more about tearing down, attacking as opposed to, this is a policy they had proposed themselves. If you look at the proposal that emanated from government, in respect to the Programme for Government, it’s identical.

“Yet we get this huge outroar in Leinster House and in Déil Éireann. I think there’s too much of that around housing. I think we need more honest, sincere debate.

“I’d be open to criticism any day to week, but I would like a bit more sincerity from the opposition.

“Sinn Féin can’t have it both ways.”

Speaking to reporters in Belfast on Friday, Ms McDonald said the Government’s handling of the appointment has been “an absolute fiasco”.

“They clearly have no plan in respect of housing delivery. We’ve seen housing prices soar, homelessness rise, rents rise, and a real sense of doom in what has been a crisis now for many, many years,” the Sinn Féin leader added.

“I tried during the week, as did Pearse Doherty, to get some kind of coherent sense from Micheál Martin and Simon Harris as to what the function and role of this housings tsar would be. And we could only conclude that it was meant to be a very, very expensive job share with the Minister for Housing.

“So they need to appreciate that hiring another bureaucrat, introducing another layer of expensive bureaucracy is not the answer to the housing crisis.

“We need a shift in policy. We need leadership. We need direction. We need proper targets.

“So, the Minister for Housing – that’s his job description, and he needs to crack on with that.”