THE GOVERNMENT HAS announced that senior civil servant Garret Doocey is to become the State’s new ‘housing tsar’.

Doocey will lead the Department of Housing’s Housing Activation Office (HAO), which aims to speed up the delivery of new housing in line with government targets.

Doocey was previously the Assistant Secretary in the Department of Transport with responsibility for land transport investment and public transport policy. He worked in the private sector before entering the civil service.

As Deputy Secretary General, Doocey’s salary will start at a minimum of €219,000.

The Housing Activation Office will manage a new multi-annual €1 billion Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund.

In a statement today, the Department of Housing said Doocey was appointed following a recruitment process by Public Jobs in conjunction with the Civil Service’s Top Level Appointments Committee.

It said Doocey “will play a critical role in driving and coordinating the Government’s delivery of increased housing supply across all tenures”. 

Minister for Housing James Browne announced the creation of the Office and the role to controversy last year.

There were tensions over whether the proposed tsar, Brendan McDonagh, chief executive of the National Asset Management Agency, would retain his Nama salary of around €430,000.

In May, McDonagh withdrew his name from consideration for the role. He told Browne while that in light of the controversy that had arisen, he no longer wished to be considered for the job.