‘You must deliver on housing after big injection of funds’
Stark message to Darragh O’Brien from his colleagues
HOUSING Minister Darragh O’Brien is seen as the chief beneficiary of the Government’s decision to approve a splurge of borrowing and expenditure increases.
One senior Cabinet source told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘This is a real opportunity for O’Brien. This is the moment where [Micheál] Martin finally imposed his authority as Taoiseach. He has picked Darragh... as the way forward.
‘When it came to whatever resources were going, the battle for the big cash was between Housing and Health and Darragh won.
Another said: ‘This is very much Micheál and Fianna Fáil’s last throw of the dice. Now all eyes are on Darragh, especially among his own, to see if he delivers.’
But Mr O’Brien’s uncertain performance to date means he will be anxiously watched by colleagues and opponents alike.
A Government insider warned: ‘Ministers are watching and judging. The only thing that can save Fianna Fáil is housing – and Micheál has bet the pot on Darragh.’
One minister said: ‘He has got the cash, now he has to start showing results. He has to be seen to build actual houses...
‘This is not a young government anymore... He no longer has the coronavirus cover.’
The source added: ‘If things go right for Darragh, he saves Fianna
‘Four extra billion... He has to deliver now’
Fáil and becomes its next leader. If they go wrong, then Fianna Fáil will be fighting it out with the Social Democrats.’
Another minister commented: ‘Micheál has spent the last of his political capital on housing. It is the old Joe Biden thing about, “if you want to show me your values don’t talk about them – show me your budget”.
‘Micheál has done that, he has delivered for O’Brien. Four extra billion a year [in capital spending] ... He has to deliver now.’
Senior Fianna Fáil ministers and TDs understand the crucial importance of delivering on housing as the party struggles in the polls.
Junior Minister for Further and Higher Education Niall Collins told the MoS: ‘The Government finally has a Fianna Fáil stamp. Housing is the number one priority and Darragh has been given the responsibility of driving real change at speed.’
The Limerick TD added: ‘Housing is the number one priority. We know that. Now we are going to deal with it.’
Meanwhile, Government sources have described the spending outlined in the Summer
Economic
Statement (SES) as ‘like the old Late Late Show – everyone is a winner here,’ and ‘this is the “one for everyone in the audience” SES.’ Despite warnings by the ESRI and a raft of economic commentators about the dangerous consequences of overspending, spending hawks carried the day to such an extent that expenditure will rise from €73bn to €93bn a year by 2025. One Fine Gael minister told the MoS: ‘It is an utterly political decision… the mandarins just have to grin and bear it.
‘It is a case of finally learning that, if a policy keeps on having bad consequences for you politically, [then] develop a better one.
‘We are not fighting another election on austerity. Fine Gael went to the people in 2016 after rescuing the economy and lost 25 seats. Fine Gael went to the people in 2020 with a Budget surplus and lost another 16 seats when Paschal brought in a Budget surplus in election year 2019.
‘We are down 41 seats from 2011. Paschal was not going to be a good boy again. He wouldn’t have been let.
‘Fine Gael is even moving away from tax cuts. The mood in the public is for spending. They have no
‘The public mood is for spending’
interest in tax cuts. They want hospitals and houses – preferably houses first.’
One source said: ‘Everyone is very spooked after the by-election. The collapse of Fianna Fáil house of cards has disguised the scale of the collapse in Government support.’
In 2020, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens in Dublin Bay South won a combined 63.99% of the public vote. Just one year later this collapsed to just 38.8%.
Ministers expressed surprise this weekend at the transformation of Minister Donohoe, from overseeing austerity policies to record spending splurges. One Cabinet member told the MoS: ‘It’s astonishing. He is the biggest spender of them all now, bigger than [Charlie] McCreevy or even [Brian] Cowen.
However, another minister warned: ‘There are two rogue variants, market confidence and inflation.
‘If either goes wrong, we will be in the economic spin-dryer.
‘Even under the new improved plan we will owe €280bn. ’