Paying someone "almost half a million euros" to fix the housing crisis "is cracked", Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said.
She was referring to the possible appointment of Brendan McDonagh, the current Chief Executive of the National Asset Management Agency, to head up the new Housing Activation Office on his current salary of €430,000.
During Leaders' Questions in the Dáil, Ms McDonald asked the Taoiseach again to justify the salary to those who could not afford rent.
She asked him "to come to his senses" and asked if he was on "a solo run".
Micheál Martin said he had dealt with the matter "comprehensively" earlier in the Dáil.
The Taoiseach has previously said the Government has not yet reached a decision on Mr McDonagh’s salary.
'Shrouded in secrecy'
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said it would not be acceptable if the Housing Activation Office chief executive is allowed to have a salary which is €200,000 more than the Taoiseach earns.
Speaking in the Dáil, she said the Housing Activation Office is "shrouded in secrecy", and an example of a Government whose housing strategy could best be described as "flying by the seat of your pants."
In reply, Mr Martin rejected that the Housing Activation Office was in anyway secret, given that it had been published in the Programme for Government.
He contended there had been a "step-change" in housing policy over the past five years, in which more social homes were delivered since the 1970s.
The Taoiseach said it's "not credible or sustainable" for Labour to suggest that it has a credible housing policy, when it is ruling out institutional funds as a vehicle for private sector investment.
Ms Bacik said the Taoiseach could not stand over the Government's housing figures when he promised 40,000 homes last year, and the actual delivery was 10,000 short.
She said: "That's a shocking shortfall. That's utterly indefensible."
