NAMA chief Brendan McDonagh has told Minister for Housing James Browne that he no longer wishes to be considered for the role of CEO of the Government's new Housing Activation Office.
Mr McDonagh wished the Government well in its efforts to get the new office up and running, but made this decision following the recent controversy after he emerged as the minister's preferred candidate.
This afternoon a meeting of the Cabinet housing committee heard more work was needed around the staffing of the new unit.
It followed sustained opposition criticism of Mr McDonagh's salary of more than €430,000, which he was set to retain in this new role.
It is understood that a final salary figure was never offered or agreed by Government around Mr McDonagh's proposed role.
There were exploratory talks during the first week in April with officials first and then with the Minister Browne.
There was a view in Government at the time that he was very skilled and experienced in the area of housing and finance.
The role would have been on secondment but no salary offer was discussed or agreed.
Mr Browne spoke with Minister for Finance Paschal Donoghue about the matter in mid-April.
Officials between Housing and Finance had engaged on possible secondment.
The NTMA was contacted about a possible assignment and details were to be worked out.
The minister is now set to go about recruiting the head of new office, but this will be done in consultation with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.
Sinn Féin housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said the entire episode was an absolute shambles.
"How can they sort out the housing crisis if they can't set up the housing activation office and appoint a CEO," he said.
Meanwhile, Labour's housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan has said Minister Browne has "acted with utter incompetence" since his appointment to the role.
The office is aiming to remove barriers to the delivery of homes across the country.
The unit will have a focus on working with local authorities, builders and utility providers to get homes built quicker.
However, the political focus has mainly been on who will lead the new office.
Read more: How a new housing office snowballed into controversy
Earlier, the Tánaiste had insisted no decisions had been taken around who will head up the office.
Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Harris said it was not about personalities, and it was important to follow the correct process in order to get things right.
Mr Harris added that when it comes to building homes, there are blockages around water and electricity connections, and ways must be found to get building sites moving, and he said that Sinn Féin had proposed a similar office during the election.
Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty countered by saying his party did not plan to have a housing czar, and he branded the Government's plan as "off the wall" and "embarrassing".
He warned that if the head of the housing office is appointed on a salary of €430,000 there would be a major backlash.
'Mindful of public concern'
The Minister for Finance had said earlier he did not know if Mr McDonagh was the preferred candidate for the role.
Paschal Donohoe said he is "mindful of the public concern" about the role.
"But I am equally mindful of the public need for us to build far more homes than we are due to at the moment," he added.
The minister said the creation of the office is "an important ingredient" to achieve this goal, adding "we will get that right".
"Both parties in Government are united in wanting to make that happen," he said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said the appointment of a housing czar "must be discussed in Cabinet first".
He added the salary is "undoubtedly" a matter that the Government must consider when making an appointment to any role, but it is "all a means to an end".
Mr Donohoe said: "What is the end? We're so conscious that more homes need to be built, we're so conscious of all the change that is taking place around the world and around our economy, and in the midst of all that, we need to meet a key need of our society.
"For me, not only am I willing to make the case for this office being part of how we do that, I'm willing to make the case for the person who is leading that office, when the Government makes the decision, which we're working on doing at the moment."
Read more:
What is the Housing Activation Office and who will lead it?
Taoiseach and Hearne clash over housing czar
Meanwhile, Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said her party has been very critical about the lack of clarity around the appointment of who will lead the new Housing Activation Office, and the Government is "floundering" on housing.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, she said: "What the Government are saying is that they're now establishing a new entity to do the job that the minister himself, the Minister for Housing, the Department of Housing and indeed the Land Development Agency should have been doing until now.
"It's a sign for me, and I think for many people that the Government is floundering on housing policy, that looking at establishing a new entity without any clarity as to what it actually will be doing. Other than that, it will apparently provide boots on the ground."
Ms Bacik added that the "absolutely eye-watering price tag" begged the question as to what the Government was doing.
