Minister for Housing James Browne has said anyone who is appointed to run the Housing Activation Office will have to be “forthright about any conflicts of interest”.
He was commenting following reports that the CEO of NAMA Brendan McDonagh had a property to let on Airbnb.
Mr McDonagh withdrew his name from consideration for the role of leading the Housing Activation Office last week following political controversy about him retaining his €430,000 salary if he was to move to the new role.
Minister Browne is also considering a report from the Housing Agency on potential changes to rent pressure zones.
Today, Minister Browne said he wanted to “protect renters”, but added that there was a problem with the supply of housing, particularly in Dublin.
He added it was a question of getting the “balance right”.
He added: “We need to make a decision quickly so renters’ fears are allayed.”
The report examines the options available to Government including removing rent caps, retaining the existing ceiling which limit increases to 2% or adjusting the existing limits.
It is understood the report highlights challenges with retaining the existing 2% limits.
Observers in the property industry say the current rent caps are one of several factors which have contributed to a 24% collapse in apartment building last year.
Government ‘all over the place’ on McDonagh salary, says McDonald
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald claimed that the Government is “all over the place” when it comes to explaining whether NAMA CEO Brendan McDonagh will retain his salary of €430,000 when he returns to the NTMA at the end of the year.
She told the Dáil that Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe “directly contradicted” Taoiseach Micheál Martin when he said yesterday that Mr McDonagh would not retain what she described as his “eye-watering salary”.
The Dublin Central TD said the Government had offered a “labyrinth of contradictions” on this issue, and the public is getting “the stink of something rotten”.
She accused the Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers of being “in the middle of the fiasco” and matters were now getting what she termed “very Fianna Fáiley”.
In reply, Minister Chambers said that the discussions with the NTMA over the winding-up of NAMA were “ongoing” and “no decision” had been made as to what individuals would be returning or their salary.
He said a new unit in the NTMA, which would undertake any business NAMA had yet to conclude, would be much smaller and not have a CEO.
The Minister said that the Government was waiting to hear back from Minister for Housing James Browne as to who would head up the Housing Actuvation Office.
He added that the purpose of having a CEO with “the appropriate level of expertise” is that it is “critical to ensure it has the impact that’s needed”.
Deputy McDonald said the Minister for Housing needs to “step up” his performance, and Minister Chambers needed to explain if legislation going through the Oireachtas was going to be changed so that all of the executives in NAMA did not transfer back to the NTMA on the same conditions.
Minister Chambers said he “completely rejected” the Sinn Féin leader’s contention that the Government was ducking and diving on this question, saying discussions are ongoing and it was not appropriate to raise a contractual matter in the context of an ongoing engagement.
Bacik calls on minister to explain what czar can do that minister cannot
The Labour leader called on the Minister for Housing to answer the key question as to what the housing czar will do that the minister cannot do himself.
Ivana Bacik also accused the Government of misleading the public on funding for Uisce Éireann before the general election.
She said that people want a home not a housing czar.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers responded by saying that the Government’s priorities are housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure.
He told the Dáil that staff in the Department of Housing are already being deployed to the new housing activation office.
This office would better coordinate the delivery of homes at local level, he said.
The minister insisted too that there was an additional €1 billion allocated to Uisce Éireann in the last budget.
He said this was later acknowledged by the chair of Uisce Éireann after he had sought clarity from the housing minister at the time.
Mr Chambers pledged that Uisce Éireann would have multi-annual funding to provide vital water connections to new homes.
