LAST UPDATE | 7 May 2025

MINISTER FOR HOUSING James Browne says he is undeterred after the controversy surrounding the appointment of a new housing tsar, and has said he is going to “identify a process” to get the “right person” into the job.

Browne said today that he was not aware that his preferred candidate for the position, Nama boss Brendan McDonagh, had advertised a property he jointly owns on a short-term letting website for more than €10,000 a week. 

“So look, I wasn’t aware. And as a minister for housing with responsibility for planning, I can’t comment on any particular planning issue. But obviously with the Housing Activation Office, I’m determined to drive on with it.

“It’s really important. It’s about boots on the ground, and it’s about being able to activate sites right across this country,” Browne said in response to a question from The Journal. 

Asked if the new boss of the Housing Activation Office will be required to declare their property interests and whether he thinks it is important that there is a level of scrutiny of this kind attached to the role, the minister said: 

“Look, I expect anybody who will be offered the role will be forthright in their situation.”

Browne added that it will be “important” that whoever gets the role will be “forthright with any kind of conflict of interests they may have”.

Browne stressed that the role is “not a tsar”.

“I’ve never used the term tsar. This is not an overseeing body. It’s actually boots on the ground, and that’s where my focus very much will be,” he said.

The issue was also a focus of Opposition TDs in the Dáil today. 

Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald said there hasn’t been a “peep” from government that “its once-preferred candidate for housing tsar, is renting out a house here in Dublin for €10,000 per week in the middle of a housing crisis”.

People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger asked:

“How would a house in Cabra command a rental of €10,226 per week?  It is not the Riviera. There are so many questions that need to be investigated.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said the “housing tsar debacle has raised more questions than answers”. 

‘The invisible minister’

Speaking on the plinth at Leinster House this morning, Ruth Coopinger said the “ridiculousness” of the housing tsar role has been exposed. 

She then accused Browne of becoming “practically invisible”. 

“There’ll be search parties at this stage looking for him, I don’t think anyone knows who he is,” she said. 

Browne pushed back on this accusation this morning. 

“I think I’ve done what you’re supposed to do, rather than going out making lots of statements, [I'm] actually engaging with all the stakeholders.

“The first group I met with was the homeless organisations. I’ve met the construction industry association, housing bodies, county councils, and everybody involved in this so we can get a real handle and understanding of how we can unlock the housing delivery,” he said.