Opposition parties have issued sharp criticism of the mooted salary for the preferred candidate to become the State’s "housing tsar".
Brendan McDonagh, the current chief executive of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), has been identified by the Coalition to head the new Strategic Housing Activation Office, and it is expected his appointment will be confirmed in the coming period.
However, reports on Sunday that he would retain his Nama salary of some €430,000 if appointed to head the new office have sparked a backlash from Opposition parties.
Mr McDonagh is seconded to Nama from the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA), and it is expected that if he were seconded from that organisation to the new post, the same salary and conditions would be attached.
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Social Democrats housing spokesman Rory Hearne said the salary was “outrageous”.
“This revelation is especially grotesque given the Government has just announced it will not be proceeding with introducing a living wage or increasing statutory sick leave for average workers.”
He also criticised Nama’s strategy of selling off Celtic Tiger era debts to overseas investment firms, saying Mr McDonagh had overseen the “fire sale” of thousands of homes and billions of euro of development land.
Labour housing spokesman Conor Sheehan said that €430,000 annually is “an inordinate amount of public money to pay someone whose role and remit are still unclear”.
“The minister says that the housing tsar will kick open doors but is that not the minister’s job? What we need is a change in housing policy and not the appointment of another layer of bureaucracy,” Mr Sheehan said.
Mr McDonagh is also entitled to an annual bonus of 60 per cent of his salary, but has never drawn it down. Government sources said the salary would be paid by the NTMA or the Department of Finance, not the Department of Housing
Asked on Sunday about the potential for Mr McDonagh to be paid such a salary, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that nothing has been confirmed regarding the appointment yet.
“Government has to consider this issue in the coming week. We have been looking at different State organisations, including Nama, in terms of secondment of people to particular positions, and particularly if they’re coming early from those positions, but that’s work that remains to be completed.”
Sources in the construction sector have also expressed deep scepticism about the potential appointment of Mr McDonagh, arguing that Nama has focused on selling off bad debt linked to boom-time loans, rather than delivery of housing at scale.
