The Taoiseach has said that the Government will “persevere” with establishing the Housing Activation Office and that it will not be deflected from doing so.
He was speaking following the withdrawal of NAMA chief Brendan McDonagh from consideration to lead up the new unit.
A meeting of the Cabinet housing committee yesterday heard that more work was needed around the staffing of the office.
It followed sustained opposition criticism of Mr McDonagh’s salary of more than €430,000, which he was set to retain in this new role.
Speaking in Cork, Mr Martin said the Minister for Housing was asked by the Cabinet subcommittee on housing to set up the Housing Activation Office and “no party had an issue” with it being established.
He said that in March, Minister James Browne reported back not with a particular name, but it was agreed that a person with authority and that would have “the necessary experience to make things happen,” be appointed. “The idea being on the bigger sites to unblock them,” Mr Martin said.
The Taoiseach said Minister Browne did speak to Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe “as he is the line minister of the NTMA and NAMA”.
Mr Martin said that Mr McDonagh’s name did surface in Department of Housing internal meetings during March and April “as it was known he’d be coming to an end of his time in NAMA”.
“We are going to persevere, we are going to establish the Housing Activation Office, we’re not going to be deflected from it,” the Taoiseach said.
“It’s not about one individual. It’s an important additional aspect to dealing with the housing issue.”
The Taoiseach would not comment on what he called “briefings” that Fine Gael were unhappy with the suggested appointment of Mr McDonagh and his name being put into the public domain.
Mr Martin said that they are now going to press ahead and get the office established.
Read More: How setting up a new housing office snowballed into controversy
The Sinn Féin leader has said that following the withdrawal of Mr McDonagh from consideration to lead up the new housing office, the situation was “an absolute fiasco” for the Government.
Speaking in Belfast, Mary Lou McDonald said that the Government clearly has no plan when it comes to the delivery of housing.
“We’re seeing prices soar, homelessness rise, rents rise and a real sense of doom in what has been a crisis for many, many years,” she said to reporters in Belfast.
“I tried during the week to get some kind of coherent sense from Micheál Martin and Simon Harris as to what the function and role of this housing csar would be,” she said.
“We could only conclude it was meant to be a very, very expensive job share with the Minister for Housing.
“They need to appreciate that hiring another bureaucrat, introducing another layer of expensive bureaucracy is not the answer to the housing crisis,” Ms McDonald said.
“We need a shift in policy, we need leadership, direction, proper targets … so the Minister for Housing that’s his job description and he needs to crack on with that.”
The new Housing Activation Office is expected to be established by June.
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.
