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Irish Times

‘We do not need housing tsar' says sec gen at Department of Housing

The appointment of a 'housing tsar' has been opposed by the top civil servant at the Department of Housing, Graham Doyle. Mr Doyle spoke against the introduction of a new 'tsar' at the Property Industry Ireland (PII) conference in Dublin on Thursday. 'I like that poll, I voted no,' Mr Doyle said, referring to a poll of conference attendees on whether a housing tsar was necessary. 'We do not need a housing tsar, can I just clear this one up, once and for all.' READ MORE The position to head the new Housing Activation Office (HAO) was suggested by Minister James Browne, who also spoke at the conference. [ Why is the housing crisis Ireland's most enduring failure? Opens in new window ] [ Housing tsar row masks a much deeper problem for the Government Opens in new window ] While an appointment was blocked by Fine Gael at the start of May, the Government has insisted it will be going ahead with the plan. Responding to the questions on the secretary general's comments on Thursday Minister for Public Expenditure and Infrastructure Jack Chambers said: 'We've been very clear. The Government position is that there will be someone leading the Housing Activation Office, and it's a matter of Government policy and direction that that's what will occur.' Mr Chambers, speaking at the launch of the public consultation period for the National Development Plan review, added that the secretary general's view 'might be his own perspective' but 'he'll have to implement what Government decides'. The HAO position is intended to eliminate blockages stopping the development of new housing units. 'The Minister and the department have a job to do around housing policy – it's very much about creating an environment for people in this room to deliver and do what they do,' Mr Doyle went on to say at the conference. He stressed that the work the department does is in the policy and funding space as well as removing obstacles for construction efforts. 'We don't need a tsar to do all of that and we never, ever used the word tsar,' he said. 'What we do need is an interventionist approach on the ground, at the site level, where we are talking about coalescing the various infrastructure, the local authority actions and infrastructure pieces. 'There is a sense in some quarters that if you knock a few heads together, if you give enough people a kick in the backside, then things happen. I only wish that was the case.' He said the way to 'coalesce' the actions of the State bodies to maximise housing output 'is to look at all those very detailed issues down at that level.' 'Those who said this is about doing the Minister's job are talking utter nonsense,' Mr Doyle said. 'As a civil servant, I don't like using phrases like that, but it really was.'