Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 May 2025

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach

Dissolution of National Asset Management Agency: Discussion

2:00 am

Photo of Pearse DohertyPearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is relevant to NAMA because he oversees NAMA. NAMA has got more than 1,000 social houses that are to be transferred over, land with capacity for 4,000 houses and tens of million of euro of assets. The head was being poached to another role. That was completely botched. I appreciate Mr. McDonagh's answer. To be clear, at the time he withdrew from this position or indicated he did not want it, two things were happening. It is only fair I put this to him. One is the role of the housing tsar. It was understood that the salary would not be €430,000 but that it would be at a lower rate, and rightly so. The second was there was a media report relating to the Mr. McDonagh renting out his home for €10,000 per week. The idea of that is outrageous during a housing crisis. Can Mr. McDonagh state that neither of those issues was the reason that he withdrew from consideration to be the housing tsar?