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LAST UPDATE | 13 hrs ago
NAMA CHIEF BRENDAN McDonagh has told Housing Minister James Browne he is withdrawing his name from consideration for the role as the new housing tsar.
McDonagh told Browne while he is honoured to have been approached about the role that in light of the controversy that has arisen, he no longer wishes to be considered for the job.
He said he wishes the new office every success.
A significant controversy blew up around the role this week, in particular the €430,000 salary expected to be attached to it.
The housing minister announced the creation of a new ‘Housing Activation Office’ to operate within the Department of Housing earlier this week.
While McDonagh was yet to be formally appointed to head this new office, his name had been linked to the role in the media for the last few weeks.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One on Tuesday, Browne said McDonagh was his “preferred candidate” for the role.
Discussions took place at today’s Cabinet subcommittee on housing on the matter, with sources stating that Fine Gael “blocked” the appointment of McDonagh at the meeting.
Another source told The Journal following the meeting that McDonagh had “withdrawn” his name from consideration.
Browne and a number of other ministers sit on that committee along with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.
A spokesperson for the Tánaiste said earlier this week that it was Simon Harris’s view that appointments of this scale “should be discussed by the leaders in advance of any name being made public”.
Following the meeting this afternoon, a statement on behalf of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Browne said that housing is the greatest challenge the country faces and the Government is determined to tackle it.
“The Government has established a new Housing Activation Office to break down silos and drive delivery of housing.
“Minister James Browne will now progress the setting up the Housing Activation Office and report back to the next Cabinet Committee on Housing following consultation with Party leaders on all aspects.”
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin described the matter as “an absolute shambles”, writing on X that Browne, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste had shown “total incompetence”.
Labour housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan has said that the manner in “this nixer” was attempted to be “rammed through by Fianna Fáil beggars belief”.
“From the beginning of his appointment to the Department Minister Browne has acted with utter incompetence from the get go,” Sheehan said.
“The big question now is if Fine Gael have blocked the appointment of McDonagh because they felt he wasn’t the right man for the job, or because Harris is disappointed he didn’t get the hop on his colleagues in Fianna Fáil. Either way, this is no way to run a country.”
Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said it was “another housing mess”, posting: “The Government’s inappropriate and ham fisted plan to put ex Nama CEO into a gold plated post as their ‘Housing Tsar’ has fallen apart.”
During Leaders’ Questions today, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said the mooted salary for the role was “off the wall”.
The government should be embarrassed that they are “prepared to pay someone nearly half a million euro to take up what is the main responsibilities of the Minister for Housing”, he said.
Doherty also referred to reports that Harris was blindsided by “this bonkers decision”.
He added: “There’s no blindsiding going on here. This appointment, and the name of Brendan McDonagh, has been flagged as the lead candidate for nearly two months now in the national media. So either you were very much on board or you were asleep in the wheel.”
As he gave his response Harris told the chamber:”We haven’t made any decisions in relation to personnel or pay. No decisions at all.”
He said that the Government will continue to engage on how best to staff the new office, stating that the overriding objective “won’t be personality”, but “getting the job done”.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik also raised the topic of the housing tsar during Leaders’ Questions.
A housing oligarch or housing tsar with the Russian oligarch price tag. You might call it a fixer-in-chief, or even a fixer with a nixer, and what an extraordinary nixer this is.
Bacik noted that it was “interesting” that Harris and Fine Gael colleagues were now “distancing yourselves” from the appointment.
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