Brendan McDonagh withdraws from housing ‘tsar’ role consideration

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

Brendan McDonagh has withdrawn his name from consideration to become Ireland’s housing “tsar” following criticism.

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

Earlier, 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.

It has been reported in recent weeks that he could be seconded into the role and retain his Nama salary of about €430,000.

This put pressure on the Government over both its housing strategy and perceived use of public funds, particularly from the opposition, who questioned the “gold-plated” salary.

On Thursday a spokeswoman for Housing Minister James Browne said Mr McDonagh was withdrawing his name but he was “honoured to have been approached”.

“In light of the controversy that has arisen about the role, he has withdrawn himself from consideration. He wishes the new office every success.”

Speaking in the Dáil earlier, 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.

“€430,000, that’s the off-the-wall salary that your Government is planning to pay the new housing tsar to come in and basically job share with the Housing Minister James Browne,” Mr Doherty said during Leaders’ Questions on Thursday.

He said Mr Browne himself had described the role of “the housing tsar” as being responsible for rapid responses and “unlocking” housing delivery with the help of experts.

“Tánaiste, does the Housing Minister not realise that that’s his job that he’s describing? That’s his actual job. It’s farcical stuff.”

He told the Dáil that claims that the “mad-cap”, “gold-plated” salary would not cost additional public funds, as Mr McDonagh is being seconded from Nama, “appears not to be true”.

He said that as Nama is to be wound down this year, Mr McDonagh is to return to the NTMA, from which he was seconded, “at a significantly reduced salary”.

The Tánaiste said one of the key issues with housing construction was “silos” between sectors.

The Cabinet sub-committee on housing is due to meet on Thursday and a new housing plan is due by the summer recess, Mr Harris said.

He said the Housing Commission said that a housing delivery oversight executive was “essential to address the systemic reset required” in the housing sector.

The Commission’s report said this body would “be legislatively empowered to remove obstacles to housing delivery and would drive co-ordination across legislation, regulation and istrative practices”.

Mr Harris also said he was “surprised” at Sinn Féin’s opposition to the suggestion because its election manifesto proposed an office that would do “exactly what we now want to do”.

Mr Doherty interrupted to say “no housing tsar”, to which Mr Harris said “there’s no housing tsar for us either”, which prompted laughter from the Sinn Féin benches.

“We haven’t made any decisions in relation to personnel or pay. No decisions at all, and let me say this – process matters in relation to all of those issues.

“The overriding objective won’t be personality. The overriding objective will be getting the job done.”

Mr Doherty said “who are you trying to fool” by claiming there is “no housing tsar in our plan”.

“The idea that you’re blindsided in relation to this is just nonsense. You are proposing a housing tsar, you are proposing a salary of €430,000. That’s what was on the table, on the cards here.”

Mr Harris replied that the housing minister brought forward a proposal to the cabinet to begin setting up an office “to break down silos in relation to housing.

“The only decision the Government of Ireland took this week was in relation to that.

“Now that the Government of Ireland has done that, we will now decide how best to populate the office, process matters, I want to understand the processes followed in relation to key personnel, and then we will address all of those matters and put this together.

“Of course, people who do a job will be paid a salary, but this isn’t about personalities.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik called the role a “housing tsar with a Russian oligarch price tag” and “a fixer in chief”.

“It’s interesting to hear you and Fine Gael colleagues distancing yourselves from this and indeed, I think people will be glad to hear that you’ve just said no decision has been made yet on how to populate this new office,” she said.