The Taoiseach is hitching his wagon to a tsar.
Not a universally popular decision in Leinster House.
The Opposition is far from impressed and it seems some in Government (Fine Gael) are not gone on the idea either.
But Micheál Martin is well beyond worrying about stepping on colleagues’ toes. Solving the housing crisis is all he cares about now.
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“I will do everything, everything, that I possibly can to make that happen,” he told the Dáil, straining to keep the discussion on housing delivery and away from the imminent appointment of this new housing tsar, whoever he might be.
We know there will be no tsarina, unless her name is Brenda McDonagh and the Minister for Housing is mixing her up with Brendan McDonagh, boss of the acronym known as Nama [National Asset Management Agency].
Minister for Housing James Browne has let it be known that he wants Brendan to become the first tsar of HAO, which means the housing activation office.
Originally, it was supposed to be called the structural housing activation taskforce, but then it wasn’t.
On Wednesday, the identity of the Minister’s preferred emperor of enforcement remained under wraps. The Taoiseach was unable to supply Brendan’s name during Leaders’ Questions.
“No decision has been made in terms of any individual. The Government will decide and the Minister will progress that in the time ahead,” insisted Micheál, in no way backtracking after Browne’s intervention put Fine Gael noses out of joint. On Tuesday, a spokesman for Tánaiste Simon Harris said such a significant appointment should have been discussed at leadership level before any name was made public.
It would be a terrible slap in the face for James if his desired candidate didn’t get the gig – a humiliating case of so near but yet so tsar.
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Still, it won’t be long before his man is installed. The appointment should be announced sometime on Thursday.
The Taoiseach, for one, will welcome our new housing overlord.
He cannot understand why the Opposition is complaining about the HAO and is so outraged over the salary of its first tsar – Brendan will be moving from Nama to a new acronym. His journey will be made all the easier thanks to his €430,000 GPS (gold-plated salary), which is coming with him.
That’s how Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described his remuneration earlier in the week. On Wednesday, she simply called it “cracked”. Then she said such a large salary for what amounted to a “job-share” is “shocking”.
In her view, Tsar Brendan will be doing the job the Minister is supposed to be doing, but for far more money.
Before Labour leader Ivana Bacik reached for the tsars, she took a look at Fianna Fáil’s housing policies over the five years it has held the brief.
After clinging to its Housing for All policy, she said Fianna Fáil is now “diversifying” into “a flying by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach” while indulging in “a series of solo runs” on various housing-related issues.
“You are flying kites, Taoiseach, and no one can keep up.” Except, one presumes, his Coalition partners in Fine Gael who won’t be able to see them because, according to Ivana, they are being “kept in the dark” by Micheál.
The man must be exhausted, although he looked well in his papal funeral suit.
But what about the latest diversionary tactic, the one “shrouded in secrecy so far” and recently announced by Browne? He intends to “create a new housing maverick, a fixer in chief”.
But this warrior won’t be called a “tsar” because the Taoiseach doesn’t like the name’s Russian connotations, even if, noted Ivana, our new housing overlord comes with an oligarch’s price tag.
Russia’s first tsar was Ivan the Terrible. Ireland’s first housing tsar will be Brendan the Terrible Big Salary (albeit stripped of his crown while still saddled with the tyrannical duties his Minister and high-ranking troops can’t do).
The Labour leader was stumped.
“What exactly is the housing activation office? What will it do?” All she’s heard is some “meaningless” stuff about “boots on the ground” and co-ordinated delivery.
Perhaps she should take a closer look at the statement released by the Minister for Housing.
It’s brilliant.
The HAO “will do what it says on the tin”. It will have “the agility to troubleshoot”.
This is exciting.
“In a nutshell it’s a dedicated, expert team focused on activating sites and getting shovels moving where they are stalled.”
Led by an “experienced” chief executive who may look like a mild-mannered banker but is, in reality, a lethal killing machine, elite HAO operatives will “engage, align and in a very practical way pull together stakeholders … moving in a co-ordinated way and enabling an unblocking of housing development.”
A feat apparently beyond the abilities of the best-paid minds in the permanent government along with our elected leaders and their advisers.
The Taoiseach had to put Ivana right about this new special forces unit which will be operating above the Minister’s head on a need-to-know basis.
There is no big mystery about the HAO, said Micheál. It’s been hiding in plain sight all along. “It was in the programme for government, which was published – no secret about it at all.”
In fairness to him, setting up the HAO was not Fianna Fáil’s idea. It was suggested by the Housing Commission. Its report was welcomed by the Opposition.
And now, the time has come to assemble a crack team to unclog the housing system and do the things a lot of highly paid people are already supposed to be doing.
“We need all hands on deck in relation to housing. We need to unblock barriers on the ground.”
Which is where the tsar – as he will be known no matter what the Taoiseach might want – comes in. The Government’s Mr Muscle, who will kick down the doors, knock heads together, pulverise the planners, aggressively prioritise, ruthlessly deliver and scale up like a mutant amphibious accountant in the country’s drains, unclogging the bunged up housing system in superhero fashion.
But who will replace Brendan in Nama?
Perhaps Robert Watt, blazing a gold-plated trail in the acronym known as DOH! (Department of Health), could be seconded from his secretary general job in Baggot Street to Treasury Dock on the North Wall.
He’s only pulling in a wage above the €300,000 bracket, so would need a bump-up to Brendan’s level. But still.
Or maybe one of the 30 chief executives running commercial State bodies in line for a bumper pay rise might step in to fill the gap.
Cian O’Callaghan of the Social Democrats had his eye on them during Leaders’ Questions.
“Not content with creating a new €430,000 post for the housing tsar, this Government now wants to increase pay for senior executives in semi-State organisations” he said, noting that the Coalition has just announced plans to change rules which will mean the heads of 30 semi-State bodies, from Horse Racing Ireland to RTÉ, potentially in line for “massive increases”.
No references to belt-tightening and cutting costs from Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers in the face of “economic headwinds, tariffs or global volatility” when it comes to their gold-plated salaries, he noted.
Is fearr an tsar.
