The recruitment of a so-called Housing Tsar is “not a priority” for the Government, writes Craig Hughes.

The focus of the Department of Housing has “shifted” towards getting the existing staff operational at the newly established Housing Activation Office (HAO).

In February, Minister for Housing James Browne said he would appoint a “maverick” to head the HAO, whose job would be to “troubleshoot” problems with housing delivery on stalled sites around the country.

The HAO is a commitment in the Programme for Government agreed between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Regional Independents.

It stems from a similar recommendation by the expert led independent Housing Commission, which called for a Housing Delivery Oversight Executive to be established.

However, the Housing Commission said the agency should have decision-making powers enshrined in legislation to remove blockages to housing delivery.

The HAO has been criticised for not having any powers and instead reporting to Mr Browne.

The search to find an individual to spearhead the HAO has been mired in controversy since it was announced, and culminated in the botched attempt to appoint the former head of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), Brendan McDonagh, to the role.

Tánaiste Simon Harris blocked Mr McDonagh’s appointment in May.

It would have led to the former Nama chief executive retaining his €433,000 salary, which sparked a political row.

The Coalition leaders then sought to recruit the head of the Land Development Agency (LDA), John Coleman, but he is understood to have told them he was not interested and was committed to his work at the LDA.

“No one wants the role, and to be honest I can’t blame them. Why would you want to be the public face of an office that has been born in such controversy?” one Cabinet source said.

A Department of Housing source explained that the “focus is now firmly on getting the HAO working on what they were set up to do”.

However, the source did not rule out the possibility of the position being filled in the future, but stressed that “it’s not the priority right now”.

The creation of the job did not appear to have support from within the department.

In May, speaking at the Property Industry Ireland (PPI) Conference, secretary general at the Department of Housing Graham Doyle publicly described the Housing Tsar as an “utter shambles” and said it was not needed.

“We do not need a Housing Tsar – can I just clear this one up please, once and for all?” Mr Doyle said.

The department subsequently issued a statement saying Mr Doyle was referring to his opposition to the term ‘tsar’, rather than to the job of the head of the HAO.

Speaking to the Mail yesterday, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said it wasn’t surprising and showed a lack of urgency on the part of the Government.

“None of this is surprising. What it confirms is that the office was poorly conceived, but it also shows there’s a lack of urgency in the Government in addressing the ongoing delays in public and private sector homes.

“Unless the Government follows through on the Housing Commissions’ proposals for a Housing Delivery Oversight Executive, with meaningful powers underpinned by legislation, then it is always going to be another layer of bureaucracy in an already overly bureaucratic system.”

Mr Ó Broin added that the bureaucracy is “slowing down the delivery of much-needed homes and resulting in increased homelessness, increased house prices and rents and forced immigration.”

Photo: Minister for Housing James Browne. Photo: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie