Dublin City Council’s chief executive identified Robert Watt as the person to lead the capital’s new regeneration authority, telling the Government the “generational civil servant” had the required skills and network to drive the project forward.
In a letter to the top official in the Department of the Taoiseach, Richard Shakespeare lavished praise on Watt, who earned more than €300,000 a year while serving as Department of Health secretary general.
The council confirmed Shakespeare requested that Watt be considered to head the Dublin City Regeneration Authority, which has sought a €114 million budget to fund its work.
“In relation to Robert,” Shakespeare wrote last month in a letter to Department of the Taoiseach secretary general John Callinan.
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“I believe that he is a Generational Civil Servant, with a unique skill set and network to drive forward the ambitions of the taskforce,” he said.
Shakespeare and Watt previously served together on the board of the Football Association of Ireland for two years.
Watt is to be paid €280,000 as chief executive of the authority, which will be set up as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to put into effect the findings of the Dublin City Taskforce.
He will be seconded for three years from the Department of Housing to lead the authority. The Government previously confirmed the position was not filled via a competitive process as it was a secondment.
The taskforce, which was led by An Post chief executive David McRedmond, recommended “10 big moves” to rejuvenate the city centre in its 2024 report.
These include redeveloping the GPO as a major public building, the total regeneration of social housing complexes in the city centre, and the conversion of derelict sites into high-density housing with provision for essential workers.
The council confirmed the idea to ask the Government appoint Watt to the position originated with Shakespeare and he first made contact over it in “early to mid-March”.
Around this time it was becoming clear that Watt would not be reappointed as secretary general in the Department of Health, and speculation was rife over his next position. Previously he served Department of Public Expenditure secretary general.
Shakespeare wrote his email encouraging Watt’s appointment on April 16th, four days before the appointment was confirmed after receiving the Cabinet’s approval.
Sketching out the role in his letter to Callinan, Shakespeare said Watt would initially head a project management unit as a forerunner to the SPV, reporting into its board once it was established and also to its chair, which is expected to be McRedmond.
“As the sole member of the SPV I would anticipate some level of interaction between myself, David and Robert,” Shakespeare wrote.
McRedmond has urged the Government to act quickly in setting aside money to fund the recommendations made by his taskforce, saying that “delay is fatal” to the project. He also criticised the slow pace of progress on its action plan and questioned whether the local authority and elements within the Government were committed to seeing through the plan.
He said he felt the plan should be funded to the tune of €1 billion in last year’s budget.
