Housing tsar row brings a strike-out before the first innings

Story of the Week

Well it was irony that the very first big action of the Government’s much-vaunted Housing Activation Office (HAO) was losing its new boss before he was even hired.

In any other circumstance such decisive implementation would be commended but the truth of the matter, in baseball terms, was the Government’s new clean-up hitter was struck out in the very first innings.

The Cabinet Committee on Housing met on Thursday to discuss the office. By the time it came to an end, Brendan McDonagh had withdrawn his name for consideration, and Minister for Housing James Browne, who had sought the Nama chief executive for the job, was on a search for a replacement.

Fine Gael leader and Tánaiste Simon Harris essentially said they were a bit blindsided by the appointment, that they had not been kept in the loop. You could see that in the very cool reaction of Fine Gael ministers when asked was the appointment a done deal.

Housing tsar row: FF and FG continue to snipe after collapse of Brendan McDonagh appointment plan

Housing Activation Office explainer: How does it differ from what the Housing Commission recommended?

100 days of Government and very little to show

But the Fianna Fáil side said that this narrative doesn’t fully stack up. Brendan McDonagh’s name has been out there for weeks and there was little muttering to be heard from the Fine Gael side. For the Fianna Fáil side it only really became a big issue when The Irish Times reported that McDonagh’s really large Nama salary – of €430,000 a year – could follow him into the new role.

That is when it became scatological. With the Opposition baying – it is always hard to defend individuals being paid big salaries of tax payers’ money – the appointment was becoming less defendable.

Bust-up

There were all classes of bust-ups in the Dáil this week but most were of the usual Punch and Judy variety.

The one significant bust-up was the one above. It’s not going to create a permanent fissure but it shows that the unity of 2020 to 2025 might not be such a certainty this time. Both parties sparred against each other in the general election, but there was a bit of the straw man about that.

But this time you had both sides briefing and phrases like “frustration” and “lack of consultation” being bandied around.

The economic picture is uncertain. And that creates uncertainty in politics. It’s always more difficult to keep an even keel when the seas around you are beginning to get choppy.

That’s all very well but does any of this affect me?

Roderic O’Gorman was re-elected as leader of the Green Party on Thursday. After every election, the party holds a leadership contest, if required. In 2020, then party leader Eamon Ryan had led his party to its greatest electoral achievement but he managed to stave off the challenge of Catherine Martin by the slimmest of margins in the ensuing leadership contest.

This time round, it’s so different. O’Gorman was the only nominee. He is also the party’s sole remaining TD. It has one Senator, Malcolm Noonan. A Dublin councillor, Janet Horner, is the new chair of the party.

The Greens are so peripheral now. The party faces a long hard challenge coming back from near obscurity.

Banana skin

We have a new US ambassador to Ireland with strong Irish connections. Edward Walsh, a businessman from New Jersey, has been a golfing buddy of US president Donald Trump.

However, as Keith Duggan reported this week, the US senate foreign relationships chairman told him that Ireland was “much out of step” with American on Israel and Palestine.

Walsh promised he would hold those “difficult conversations” with the Irish Government.

And difficult they will be.

Winners and losers

Winner: Roderic O’Gorman. Give him his due. He has been reelected leader of the Greens, despite it being reduced to one seat in the Dáil. Being leader, though, has to stand for something.

Loser: James Browne. He backed Brendan McDonagh to the hilt as the new HAO boss. An early hit for the new Minister for Housing.

The Big Read

It’s not just Donald Trump who has reached 100 days. So has Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Pat Leahy gives a thorough assessment on what he has done, achieved and fallen short on during that period in tomorrow’s The Irish Times.

That’s also where you will find Miriam Lord’s unmissable column.