One Dublin city council tenant owes €44,000 in rent arrears.
In total, 33 million euro is owed to the local authority. While 6 in 10 tenants are behind on payments.
One account has been in the red for 12 years.
The local authority has almost 25,000 homes on it's books, with the average weekly rent standing at €70.
Labour councillor Dermot Lacey says there needs to be a different approach to how rent is collected.
He says DCC doesn't have the power to deal with the problem and that legislation needs to be enacted allowing rent to be taken straight from social welfare payments;
"If somebody owes a hundred euro it's easier to repay it than if somebody owes ten thousand euro and as people slip further and further into debt it becomes harder to repay" he said.
"So I think we need to take measures to stop them getting into that situation in the first place."
