It’s understood that while no specific salary was discussed, Mr Donohoe believed that Mr McDonagh’s current salary of €430,000 as the boss of Nama, would be too high if he was seconded to head up the Strategic Housing Activation Unit.
Earlier this week, Fine Gael ministers privately expressed fury over the planned appointment after it was reported that Mr McDonagh would hold on to his salary. The Tánaiste and Fine Gael leader, Simon Harris, said appointments of that scale should be discussed between the two Coalition party leaders before being made public.
While the appointment was not discussed at the highest level, it has emerged talks did take place at senior ministerial level between both parties.
As the party leaders try to soothe tensions after Mr McDonagh withdrew his name for consideration, options for an alternative are being considered.
One solution could be the appointment of a temporary chief executive of the office to allow time to find the right person to lead it. There are concerns that going through the official process – the Top Level Appointments Committee – for senior roles would take too long and could mean another year before a new housing tsar is in place.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin rejected reports that the Tánaiste blocked Mr McDonagh’s appointment.
“No, that’s not correct,” he said, speaking at the opening of a new development on Cork’s docklands alongside Mr Browne.
“I met with Simon Harris yesterday and spoke to Seán Canney and Brendan McDonagh himself – he doesn’t want to be a part of a controversy of this kind. We’re going to move on now and the minister is going to report back to us.”
Mr Martin said no salary was ever discussed.
“The minister would have spoken to the line minister [Paschal Donohoe], because of the role of the NTMA and Nama and seeking permission around the secondment issue and so on. But, look, we’re going to press ahead with this and get this established,” he said.
Mr Martin also said he rejected criticism from opposition parties that the process in appointing the housing tsar had been a “shambles”.
“I do not accept that at all, because the opposition can’t have it both ways,” he said.
“I do think, though, there’s a need for reflection in politics generally. I just witnessed what went on in the Dáil. I witnessed Mary Lou [McDonald] sort of coming in high dudgeon saying, “Oh, it’s a job share” – it’s exactly what Mary Lou proposed during the election.”
Mr Browne defended his first 100 days in office, and said there is still public confidence in the Department of Housing.
“I was appointed with a very strong remit: to go out, make decisions and get things moving for housing,” he said.
“But where there is a gap, and we need to bridge that gap, is between the strategy and the funding and then those output on the ground, and that’s why the Housing Activation Office is so important: to be able to operationalise on the ground to get those homes moving.”
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