There have been calls for a three-year rent freeze after new figures show average rents are now a fifth higher than at the peak of the Celtic Tiger in 2007.
The average rent in the capital is now €1,712 a month -- up 7% per cent on last year
Housing minister Eoghan Murphy admits it's not fair.
"Rents are too high," he says. "People who are working hard are paying far too much of their hard-earned money to go towards their rent, and that's not fair.
"That's precisely why we changed the laws to protect renters, to increase the use of rent controls.
Minister Murphy was speaking at the launch of a plan by the Simon Community to triple the size of its medical centre for the homeless at Usher's Island this morning (pictured).
Opposition politicians say his policies just aren't working.
People Before Profit and the Labour party are calling for a three-year rent freeze.
"A rent pressure zone's supposed to only go up by 4% and yet we see a 7% rise in Dublin," says Labour's Jan O'Sullivan.
Meanwhile economists also calling for more drastic action on vacant sites to reduce the price of development land.
ESRI researcher Kieran McQuinn says a report on the vacant sites levy indicated it wasn't having the full effect.
"There was a report submitted to the department at the end of last year on the measure and there was some comment to the effect that there were some legal loopholes that need to be tightened," he said.
Jan O'Sullivan says if the land supplies don't improve doesn't work, we're stuck in the same cycle
"We really do need to see [the vacant sites levy] being effective," she said. "I'm told by builders that one of the main costs now for builders is actually the cost of development land.
The ESRI now says two thousand fewer homes will be built this year.
