Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)

The housing crisis is a social and economic disaster. Solving it requires an emergency response that is unprecedented in scale and a radical reset in policy. Yet, what we have seen so far from this Government is disarray, half-baked ideas, kite-flying and a complete lack of a joined-up approach. The proposed appointment of Mr. Brendan McDonagh, NAMA CEO, now appears to have been another ill-thought-out solo run by Fianna Fáil to add to the scrapping of rent caps and the tax breaks for investor funds. How can we have any confidence that this Government will co-ordinate a solution to the housing disaster, when it cannot even co-ordinate and take a joined-up approach in its own Cabinet?

To be clear, the Government's new activation office is only a fig leaf of what the Housing Commission proposed as a comprehensive, resourced executive. The Irish Daily Mail and the Irish Independent both report today that Mr. McDonagh was due to get a pay cut if he went back to the NTMA. In creating a housing tsar, has the Government created a golden parachute to keep him on his outrageously high salary? How does the Tánaiste think, on this International Workers' Day, low-income workers feel with the postponement of their living wage, while the Government creates gold-plated positions for insiders?

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