Latest news with #housingtsar
Irish Times
09-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Tough decisions to tackle housing crisis are under way – but will they work?
The expected move to ease rent caps is part of a Government response to the worsening housing crisis which will see further policy changes announced in the coming weeks, before a revised plan for housing is finalised in July. Government insiders hope that the departures will show them finally getting to grips with the housing crisis. But it would be an exaggeration to say there is confidence that all this will work quickly to increase housing supply. Meanwhile, opposition to the rent cap changes is growing and will be heard both in the Dáil tomorrow and on the streets next week when Raise the Roof, an umbrella group co-ordinated by the trade unions and including NGOs and Opposition parties, holds a major protest outside Leinster House. The housing measures include some already announced and some yet to come. There will be changes in planning regulations to allow small residences in back gardens, extensions and attic conversion s without planning permission; potentially also changes in regulations on apartment construction; the role of the Land Development Agency will be expanded to include mixed-use developments with private sector partners; the appointment of a 'housing tsar' ( just don't call it that ) is also coming; commencing the changes in last year's mammoth planning Act will make it harder to block planning permissions; and money will be provided for new planners in local authorities and An Bord Pleanála to speed up the planning process. READ MORE [ Explainer: Garden rooms and attics – What are the proposed changes to regulations? Opens in new window ] Divisions remain in Government over the possibility of tax incentives for builders and developers of certain types of housing, and they are unlikely to be settled until the budget. But at the top level of Government, there is a growing sense that urgent action is needed on housing, with one insider insisting that the series of decisions now under way will place housing at the very centre of the Government's priorities from now until the summer recess in mid-July. However, there is also an awareness that some measures to increase supply will leave the Coalition open to political attack and public unpopularity. [ Proposed changes to rent rules will incentivise evictions, housing charity warns Opens in new window ] And the problem for the Government is that the unpopularity and the political attacks will be immediate – but any potential payback from the measures in the shape of increased supply is at best years away, and may not even be felt until after the next general election. Even without the planning delays and legal actions that they have to factor into their considerations, builders and developers say it can still take three to four years to deliver a block of apartments. There is no doubt the measures will be welcomed by developers and landlords. But that is not necessarily the same thing as prompting them to move quickly to increase supply. Many will want to see if tax incentives are introduced in the budget; others will want to see if the Government has the political will to resist the pressure already building on the rent pressure zone changes. 'Look, the reality is there is no silver bullet,' says one senior Government source. But, the source says, we need apartments, and the people who build apartments are not building them right now because of the rent caps. [ Rules for renters: What are the planned reforms and will they work? Opens in new window ] All very well, but the simple and logical outcome of changing the rent cap rules is that rents will go up – that's why the landlords and the developers are in favour of it. The Government says that its package will protect renters – but among groups working at the coalface of homelessness, there is little confidence in that. An uptick in evictions and rising rents – both predicted by Opposition parties – would pile enormous pressure on the Government. Within Government, there is an undoubted willingness to take difficult decisions, and an awareness that the time to take them is in the first year of its term of office. But that is not matched by any great confidence that the measures will work. [ Ireland's housing crisis: Why is there such a shortage of homes to buy and rent here? Opens in new window ]
Irish Times
30-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Sec Gen rejection of ‘housing tsar' shows Government ‘shambles'
Comments by a top civil servant that a Government-appointed 'housing tsar' was not needed underlines the 'utter shambles' of the response to the housing crisis, Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin has said. Mr Ó Broin, the party's housing spokesman, suggested that in making his comment, secretary general at the Department of Housing, Graham Doyle, was speaking for his equivalents in a number of other departments. Mr Doyle made his comments at the Property Industry Ireland (PII) conference in Dublin on Thursday. [ How housing 'tsar' became a PR problem for Government Opens in new window ] Referring to a poll of attendees on whether a housing tsar was necessary, Mr Doyle said: 'I like that poll; I voted no. READ MORE 'We do not need a housing tsar – can I just clear this one up please, once and for all.' His department subsequently issued a statement saying Mr Doyle was referring to his opposition to the term 'tsar', rather than to the role of the head of the Government's new Housing Activation Office (HAO). Asked on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne show if he thought Mr Doyle was only objecting to the word rather than the position Mr Ó Broin said: 'It's much more significant than that. First of all, it shows the utter shambles that the new administration is making of what was already a very, very bad housing crisis. 'When you go back to the first interview the Minister for Housing James Browne did in February he talked – and this was the Minister's language – about wanting a maverick to knock heads and kick down doors. 'If you have not only the secretary general of the Department of Housing – but I suspect Graham [Doyle] is also speaking for the secretary generals of the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform, and Finance – absolutely and very publicly and deliberately opposing the proposition, it tells me you have got a problem.' He described the HAO as a 'dead duck, before it has even started' and questioned how the Government would deal with 'resistance' from the Civil Service in implementing the body. On the same programme, Minister of State for Public Procurement Emer Higgins addressed the situation saying: 'I think we all agree that there needs to be a strategic housing delivery office, and ultimately, you need somebody to lead that.' She denied that the Government had used the term 'tsar'. It was her 'interpretation', she said, that Mr Doyle was opposed to the use of the term but was 'on board with the strategic Housing Activation Office which obviously needs a leader'. She said there was a 'recognition' in the Department of Housing that the HAO was necessary and said 'we don't need to get bogged down in terminology the Government has never used'.
BreakingNews.ie
07-05-2025
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Politics watch: Browne under fire over 'housing tsar' plan
Here, we have a look at the topics likely to dominate political discourse in the week to come. Browne under fire over 'housing tsar' plan Housing is the big item on the agenda this week, with the Government and Minister for Housing James Browne under fire over the plan to appoint a 'housing tsar'. Advertisement The collapse of plans to appoint Nama chief Brendan McDonagh as the Government's new housing tsar has led to tension within the Coalition, while the Opposition has been highly critical of Mr Browne and the plan in the Dáil today. The Minister remains insistent that the housing tsar plan will go ahead. In the Dáil on Wednesday, Labour called on Mr Browne to appear to take questions on the matter. People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger accused him of hiding from the issue. Advertisement "We don't need a housing tsar to tell us that there's public land that could be developed, you don't need a housing tsar to allocate money for that. Also the Housing Minister, who has become practically invisible, there are search parties at this stage looking for him. I don't think anybody knows who he is." Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said it is still unclear what will happen to the €430,000 salary earmarked for Mr McDonagh, who is no longer taking up the role. Ms McDonald said: "You of course drafted the legislation making it clear that all Nama executives will go to the resolution unit in the NTMA [National Treasury Management Agency] and that therefore all of them will retain their pay and conditions. "This must include Mr McDonagh, so the labyrinth of contradiction prompts people to ask what the hell is going on here, people catch the stink of something rotten." Advertisement Mr Browne said he expects whoever becomes the housing tsar will declare their property interests before taking up the role. Mr McDonagh withdrew his name from consideration to become the new chief executive of the Housing Activation Office last week, following controversy over his appointment. The Ditch reported a four bedroom house he jointly owns was advertised on a short term letting sight for over €10,000 a week. Mr Browne said he expects the person who eventually takes up the role to be transparent. Advertisement "I expect anybody who will be offered the role will be forthright in their situation. This is not an overseeing body, it's actually boots on the ground, that's very much where my focus will be. "And when I do identify that person, in agreement with the leader, that will be somebody who can activate sites on the ground because that is so important." Labour TD Conor Sheehan said Mr Browne should be paying more attention to recommendations set out in the Housing Commission's latest report. "I can't understand, for the life of me, why the Government won't take this recommendation on in full instead of introducing this relatively toothless, halfway measure which will amount to little more than a week on, week off for the Housing Minsiter." Advertisement Meanwhile, Mr Browne has denied claims he has been "invisible" in his first 100 days in office. Mr Browne said he has been meeting all the relevant bodies in his first few months, and his sole aim is to build more houses. "I've had an extraordinary amount of meetings with stakeholders. I think I've done what you're supposed to do rather than going out and making loads of statements, and actually engaging with all the stakeholders. "The first group I met were the homeless organisations, I've met the construction industry, association housing bodies, the county councils and everybody involved in this." Taoiseach received positive messages on Trump meeting The majority of messages Taoiseach Micheál Martin received received from the public about his White House meeting with US president Donald Trump were positive. People were generally positive about Mr Martin's Oval Office meeting with Mr Trump in messages, seen by following a Freedom of Information request. The annual St Patrick's Day meeting took place on Wednesday, March 12th. The Taoiseach's Office received many messages on the meeting on the day and the following week. One message, sent hours after the meeting, read: "Just a very quick message to say congratulations on a very impressive performance in the Oval Office today. It can't have been an easy experience and I offer you my thanks on a job well done. No doubt there will be the usual criticisms in the Dáil and media but I for one send on my congratulations and thanks." Another message told Mr Martin that he "played a blinder with that nut in the Oval Office". MEP argues food security is central to European defence Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen has unveiled a new position paper outlining his vision for the future of European farming and the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027. In the paper, seen by , Mr Cowen argues that in a new era of heightened security concerns, food security must be recognised as a core pillar of Europe's strategic defence, with agriculture "deserving a protected share of broader security spending". Abroad Ireland Leo Varadkar meets Mike Pence after he receives aw... Read More Joe Biden has said in his first post-presidential interview that US president Donald Trump's pressure on Ukraine to give up territory to Russia amounted to 'modern-day appeasement'. The historically fraught term used by the former US president refers to a failed effort to stop the Nazis from annexing land in Europe in the 1930s. Friedrich Merz plunged straight into international crises on his first full day as Germany's new chancellor on Wednesday, urging India and Pakistan to de-escalate their tensions, vowing support for Ukraine and announcing plans to travel to Kyiv soon. Mr Merz and French president Emmanuel Macron — both firm believers in the European Union — used their first meeting since the German leader's appointment on Tuesday to present a united front in the face of US president Donald Trump's trade war, Russian aggression in Ukraine and other issues causing alarm in Europe.
