Controversy over the now-abandoned appointment of National Asset Management Agency (Nama) chief Brendan McDonagh as the Government’s housing fixer marked the first serious row between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael since the Coalition was formed 100 days ago.
The fact the parties are prepared to play it out in public would suggest that relations behind the scenes have deteriorated quickly in the early months of this administration.
If you can’t be bothered to hide your differences in public, the relationship is definitely in trouble.
100 days of Government and very little to show
This is not necessarily evidence that the marriage is doomed. The early months of the last coalition were also rocky – in the summer of 2020, a few weeks after the government was formed, Leo Varadkar told a cabinet meeting that if Fianna Fáil insisted on doing business this way, they wouldn’t be doing it for very long. But they all got over it.
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However much coalition partners may grumble and bicker, they usually know it is in their interests to stick together.
The briefing and counterbriefing have been pretty intense coming into this weekend. There are some direct disputes on issues of fact between the two camps, though it is not clear that anything terribly important hangs on them.
Fianna Fáil sources insist the proposed appointment of McDonagh to the job had been well-flagged in Government and that his potential secondment from Nama had been alerted to the Department of Finance, which raised no objections. Key Fianna Fáil figures are still somewhat mystified by Fine Gael’s sudden objections.
On the Fine Gael side, they were aghast at stories that McDonagh was going to retain his Nama salary, noting – probably correctly – that the only thing people would remember about the “housing tsar” was the fact he was being paid €430,000 a year as the housing crisis was becoming worse.
The party also had concerns, flagged at the Coalition leaders’ meeting last Monday evening, about the process of appointing him, fearing that it would be seen as another stitch-up by Government insiders.
When Minister for Housing James Browne went on radio on Wednesday and announced the McDonagh was his “preferred candidate”, Fine Gael hit the roof and resolved to block the appointment.
Even some in Fianna Fáil admit that Browne’s radio interview went farther than had been agreed, and there were some attempts by Taoiseach Micheál Martin to row things back a bit.
But Fine Gael felt it needed to make a stand. And even though McDonagh indicated before Thursday’s Cabinet meeting that he would not seek the position, Fine Gael let it be known that they had blocked it.
“We won’t forget this,” said one Fianna Fáiler. “He [Simon Harris] sought to gain a political victory at the expense of one of our Ministers.”
“We weren’t looking for a row,” counters a Fine Gaeler. “The Minister for Housing deviated from a clear agreement.”
Expect plenty more briefing against each other before this storm blows itself out.
[ Housing tsar row brings a strike-out before the first inningsOpens in new window ]
Perhaps the bigger message from the episode is that the Government is showing little sign of getting to grips with, or making substantial progress on, the housing crisis.
The idea that a housing tsar can suddenly make a big difference to the problem reeks of magical thinking. Since it took office the Government has wondered publicly about measures like changing the rent caps and introducing tax breaks to stimulate development. No decisions have been made, though.
Meanwhile, the construction industry warns that this year it might not equal the 30,000 completions in 2024. During the election, remember, the parties promised to complete an average of 60,000 a year, 300,000 by the end of their five-year term.
After 100 days, the administration is struggling badly with the issue. Perhaps that’s what the row is really about.
