The Taoiseach has acknowledged that the Government has not “executed perfectly” a plan to appoint a housing “tsar,” after Brendan McDonagh pulled out of the role amid controversy, reports Breaking News.
Micheál Martin stated that he spoke with Mr. McDonagh on Thursday, who does not wish to be involved in the ongoing dispute.
Mr. McDonagh’s decision came after he faced intense questioning over a proposed €430,000 salary to become the chief executive of the Government’s new housing activation office, reports Breaking News.
Tánaiste Simon Harris confirmed that the housing delivery unit was approved by Cabinet this week, though no decisions had been made regarding personnel or their salaries.
The Government had planned to appoint Mr. McDonagh, the chief executive of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), to lead the new unit, reports Breaking News.
In Cork on Friday, Mr. Martin emphasized that no Government party had objections to the establishment of the office, which is part of the Programme for Government.
He also dismissed claims that Mr. Harris had blocked Mr. McDonagh’s appointment, reports Breaking News.
The Fianna Fáil leader explained that Minister for Housing James Browne had begun the process of setting up the office and was tasked with doing so “with speed.”
According to Mr. Martin, it was agreed in March to appoint an external person to head the office, reports Breaking News.
He said Mr. McDonagh’s name came up in internal discussions 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, reports Breaking News.
“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, reports Breaking News.
“The Minister, then, as would be normal, did speak to Minister (for Finance) Paschal 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 the end of his time in Nama,” reports Breaking News.
Mr. Martin affirmed 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, reports Breaking News.
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“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,” reports Breaking News.
Opposition parties have criticized the Government over the process of appointing the housing “tsar.”
On Thursday, Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty called it “embarrassing” that the Government was willing to offer someone €500,000 to take on the Housing Minister’s responsibilities, reports Breaking News.
However, Mr. Martin accused Sinn Féin of “hypocrisy” after they proposed 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, reports Breaking News.
“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 criticize 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,” reports Breaking News.
“Yet we get this huge outroar in Leinster House and in Dáil 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 of the week, but I would like a bit more sincerity from the opposition. Sinn Féin can’t have it both ways,” reports Breaking News.
In Belfast on Friday, Ms. McDonald told reporters that the Government’s handling of the appointment had 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 said, reports Breaking News.
“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 housing 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,” reports Breaking News.
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