McDonagh tells minister he doesn't want housing czar role | Breaking News & Latest Ireland Updates

McDonagh tells minister he doesn't want housing czar role — Political Correspondent NAMA chief Brendan McDonagh has told the Minister for Housing that he no longer wishes to be considered for the role of CEO of...

Political Correspondent

NAMA chief Brendan McDonagh has told the Minister for Housing that he no longer wishes to be considered for the role of CEO of the Government's new Housing Activation Office.

Earlier, the Tánaiste insisted that no decisions had been taken around who will head up the office.

Simon Harris was speaking in the Dáil as the opposition continued to criticise a possible salary of €430,000 for the Housing Minister's preferred candidate for the role, NAMA boss Brendan McDonagh.

The Cabinet housing committee is set to discuss this politically controversial subject this afternoon, with the Tánaiste confirming that attention is now turning to who will "populate" the new office.

The office is aiming to remove barriers to the delivery of homes across the country.

The unit will have a focus on working with local authorities, builders and utility providers to get homes built quicker.

However, the political focus has mainly been on who will lead the new office.

Mr Harris said it was not about personalities, and it was important to follow the correct process in order to get things right.

This may well be a strong hint that no final decisions will be reached today.

Mr Harris added that when it comes to building homes, there are blockages around water and electricity connections, and ways must be found to get building sites moving, and he said that Sinn Féin had proposed a similar office during the election.

Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty countered by saying his party did not plan to have a housing czar, and he branded the Government's plan as "off the wall" and "embarrassing".

He warned that if the head of the housing office is appointed on a salary of €430,000 there would be a major backlash.

'Mindful of public concern'

The Minister for Finance has said he does not know if Mr McDonagh is the preferred candidate for the role.

Paschal Donohoe said he is "mindful of the public concern" about the role.

"But I am equally mindful of the public need for us to build far more homes than we are due to at the moment," he added.

The minister said the creation of the office is "an important ingredient" to achieve this goal, adding "we will get that right".

"Both parties in Government are united in wanting to make that happen," he said.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said the appointment of a housing czar "must be discussed in Cabinet first".

He added the salary is "undoubtedly" a matter that the Government must consider when making an appointment to any role, but it is "all a means to an end".

Mr Donohoe said: "What is the end? We're so conscious that more homes need to be built, we're so conscious of all the change that is taking place around the world and around our economy, and in the midst of all that, we need to meet a key need of our society.

"For me, not only am I willing to make the case for this office being part of how we do that, I'm willing to make the case for the person who is leading that office, when the Government makes the decision, which we're working on doing at the moment."

'Unhelpful' to discuss individual names

Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke also said the Government has not agreed to any name that has come before the Cabinet to be the so-called housing czar, adding that it is "unhelpful" to be discussing individual names.

He said the Cabinet subcommittee will look at the governance structure and the authority of the role.

"But essentially the cart has been put before the horse here by what's in the media ... It has not been agreed by Government yet and it's unhelpful to be speculating."

The minister said housing is the "biggest challenge" facing the economy and the Government would do "everything we can" to resolve that.

He added that the place to do so is "at the Cabinet and not over the airwaves".

Read more:What is the Housing Activation Office and who will lead it?Taoiseach and Hearne clash over housing czar

Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said her party has been very critical about the lack of clarity around the appointment of who will lead the new Housing Activation Office, and the Government is "floundering" on housing.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said: "What the Government are saying is that they're now establishing a new entity to do the job that the minister himself, the Minister for Housing, the Department of Housing and indeed the Land Development Agency should have been doing until now.

"It's a sign for me, and I think for many people that the Government is floundering on housing policy, that looking at establishing a new entity without any clarity as to what it actually will be doing. Other than that, it will apparently provide boots on the ground."

Ms Bacik added that the "absolutely eye-watering price tag" begged the question as to what the Government was doing.