{"id":409642,"date":"2026-04-21T07:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/409642\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:38:08","slug":"robert-watt-set-to-be-paid-e280000-a-year-to-lead-dublin-city-regeneration-body-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/409642\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Watt set to be paid \u20ac280,000 a year to lead Dublin city regeneration body \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former top civil servant in the Department of Health, Robert Watt<\/a>, is expected to be named as the head of a new organisation designed to drive the regeneration of Dublin<\/a> city centre. <\/p>\n

Watt\u2019s potential appointment was to be discussed by Coalition leaders on Monday evening and, if approved, go to Cabinet for sign-off on Tuesday. It would mean his salary drops from its previous level in the Department of Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sources suggested he would be paid \u20ac280,000 a year, equivalent to a top-level secretary general leading a government department.<\/p>\n

His salary in the Department of Health was \u20ac297,000 a year in 2022, a figure likely to have increased due to Civil Service pay agreements. He stepped down as head of the department earlier this month when his term expired. <\/p>\n

The role will be as of chief executive of the Dublin City Regeneration Authority, which will be set up as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to put into effect the findings of the Dublin city taskforce, which reported in 2024. <\/p>\n

In addition to the general regeneration brief, the authority is also to examine matters such as the future of the GPO on O\u2019Connell Street<\/a> and living-above-the-shop initiatives. <\/p>\n

The appointment will be made via a secondment in the Department of Housing<\/a>. The authority will be organised initially under Dublin City Council<\/a>. Legislation may be introduced to put it on a stand-alone basis in the future. <\/p>\n

The matter is one of several housing-related memos to be considered at Cabinet on Tuesday. While details were being examined by Coalition leaders on Monday, it is expected to be confirmed that people will be able to benefit from a tax-free exemption of up to \u20ac14,000 when renting out a stand-alone unit in the garden of a property where they live. <\/p>\n

It is part of a package of planning reforms enabling modular homes to be built without planning permission. Minister for Housing James Browne<\/a>, with Minister of State John Cummins, are to brief Cabinet on the proposals on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The Government hopes the reforms will free up planners to work on larger projects and it is also planning exemptions for bin sheds, subdivisions, dormers, roof lights and insulation on external walls.<\/p>\n

Cabinet is expected to consider a simplification of the State\u2019s Ber rating<\/a> scheme, measuring energy efficiency, removing some levels of classification in favour of a system composed of fewer tiers. An update on the apartment defects remediation scheme is also expected<\/p>\n

Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton<\/a> is to seek approval of four commissioners to the Commission of Investigation into historical abuse in day and boarding schools. She is also to bring an update on special education.<\/p>\n

The commissioners are to include a senior legal consultant and child safeguarding experts. The commission was established last year following a recommendation from an initial scoping inquiry into abuse in schools run by religious orders.<\/p>\n

Minister for Energy Darragh O\u2019Brien<\/a> is expected to brief Cabinet on an increased level of applications for home energy upgrades. <\/p>\n

Cabinet is also to be asked to consider the national tertiary education strategy being brought forward by Minister for Higher Education James Lawless<\/a>. The plan covers the next five years and will seek to support 500,000 learners. <\/p>\n

Minister for Children Norma Foley<\/a> is set to bring a memo on the next round of the Building Blocks grant scheme, which funds extensions to be built to early learning facilities such as creches. It follows on from an earlier phase of the scheme.<\/p>\n

She is also to brief Cabinet on the first annual report of the National Traveller and Roma inclusion strategy. <\/p>\n

Finally, Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke<\/a> is expected to brief Cabinet on efforts to secure a share of offshore wind investment for Ireland, with an emphasis on including small and medium firms in the supply chain for the sector.<\/p>\n

He is to tell Ministers that almost all actions in the State\u2019s strategy for the offshore wind sector are completed or under way, with \u20ac11.7 million approved in Enterprise Ireland grants for firms seeking to get involved. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former top civil servant in the Department of Health, Robert Watt, is expected to be named as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[40894,15910,3414,12466,615,13288,2989,61,60,7116,17162,43,2988,104173,12361,58300],"class_list":{"0":"post-409642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ber-rating","9":"tag-darragh-o-brien","10":"tag-department-of-health","11":"tag-department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage","12":"tag-dublin","13":"tag-dublin-city-council","14":"tag-hildegarde-naughton","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-james-browne","18":"tag-james-lawless","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-norma-foley","21":"tag-o-connell-street","22":"tag-peter-burke","23":"tag-robert-watt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}