Intense sniping continues between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael after the collapse of plans to appoint Nama chief Brendan McDonagh as the Government’s new housing tsar.
The appointment, intended to free up obstacles in the provision of housing, was blocked by Fine Gael this week over concerns that the party had been kept in the dark about the process and that its agreement had not been secured for such an important appointment.
The row has prompted a flurry of adverse briefing and recrimination among the Coalition partners since Thursday, with each accusing the other of being at fault in the controversy.
After Minister for Housing James Browne had told RTÉ that Mr McDonagh was his “preferred candidate” for the role as head of the new Housing Activation Office, Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris told Taoiseach Micheál Martin that he would not agree to the appointment at a meeting of the two leaders before the Cabinet Committee on Housing met on Thursday afternoon. It is understood Mr McDonagh had at that stage withdrawn his name from contention for the post. After the meeting, Fine Gael sources confirmed they had blocked the appointment at the meeting.
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Asked on Friday night if he blocked Mr McDonagh’s appointment, Mr Harris said he did not like the word “block”.
“I just didn’t think it was a good idea to go straight ahead with the appointment of any kind of individual person on a set salary without taking a little bit of time to think this through,” he said, adding that Mr Martin “agreed”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show, Mr Harris said he did not believe €430,000 was an appropriate salary for the role, “but I think it is most important that we get the skillset right”.
“I think there’s lots of people out there who want to play an important role in relation to this and I don’t think there will be any doubt that we’ll be able to find the appropriate people to fill this office.”
Senior Fianna Fáil sources insisted that Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe had been informed about the intended appointment and that the Fine Gael TD had agreed Mr McDonagh could be seconded from his current role to the new position.
Speaking to reporters in Cork on Friday, Mr Martin said Mr Donohoe was aware of the proposed appointment of Mr McDonagh, who is ultimately employed by an agency under his department.
Fine Gael sources strongly disputed that Mr Donohoe had formally sanctioned any move, though they conceded that Mr McDonagh’s name was widely circulating in Government as a likely appointment.
“He [the Taoiseach] is trying to drag the Minister for Finance into it when the focus should be on his Minister for Housing,” one senior Fine Gael TD said.
Fine Gael sources say they had questions about the appointment process and the political sensitivity of continuing to pay Mr McDonagh’s €430,000 annual salary, though Fianna Fáil insists it was expected that the salary level – which Mr McDonagh currently enjoys as chief executive of Nama – would be reduced for the new job.
[ How a housing ‘tsar’ in waiting became a PR problem for the GovernmentOpens in new window ]
Independent Ministers also raised concerns about the appointment this week.
It is understood Minister of State Seán Canney, who attends the weekly meetings of Coalition leaders on behalf of the five Independent TDs in Government, raised concerns alongside Mr Harris at last Monday’s meeting.
Mr Canney is said to have told the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil leaders that he was not comfortable with the process which seemed at that point to be building towards Mr McDonagh’s appointment. He did not raise objections to Mr McDonagh personally, but rather to the process overall, sources said.
Mr Martin said no Government party had an issue with the establishment of the new office, which is in the programme for government.
“We’re going to persevere. We’re going to establish the Housing Activation Office. It’s not about one individual,” he said.
“It’s an important additional aspect to dealing with the housing issue, to get down and dirty with it in terms of specific large sites with a view to unblocking them to enable acceleration of housing development.”
