Paul Hosford: Darragh O’Brien is banking on unproven schemes to solve housing crisis 

Paul Hosford says the house purchase schemes announced this week will help determine if the end of the eviction ban will be an even bigger issue this summer

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien was flanked by his junior ministers Kieran O’Donnell and Malcolm Noonan during Tuesday's media briefing at Government Buildings. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The announcement that the Government would allow the eviction ban to lapse at the end of this month was not entirely surprising.

While the weekend had seen some suggestions that some form of extension would be recommended to coalition leaders by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, the way had been paved for the ban to be rolled back a few weeks previously as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin both spoke publicly about how difficult it would be to keep the eviction ban in place.