Minister for Housing James Browne has said the financial market for building apartments in Dublin is broken and the tax regime needs to be examined to stimulate development.
Mr Browne said nobody wants to build apartments in Dublin at the moment and radical action needs to be taken.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, he said there would be a "political price to pay" if the Government fails to deliver housing.
"We have to examine the taxation regulatory regime and how that affects people's behaviour. We have to examine every lever. Every lever has to be on the table," Mr Browne said.
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Asked about opposition to introducing tax breaks for the building of apartments from Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Tánaiste Simon Harris he said "debate was important" but that "nobody is proposing that the tax breaks that were there in the past would make a comeback".
Asked whether he believed Rent Pressure Zones were a barrier to investors, Mr Browne said he would wait to receive the report from the Housing Agency which would be imminent, and that resetting rents would also be looked at in the report.
"There's a menu of options there. I want to ensure that there is a fair balance, that renters have to be protected," he said.
"Renters are already paying extremely high rents in this city, so we need to wait to see what the Housing Agency says," Mr Browne added.
Asked whether he was in favour of allowing landlords to reset rents once a property becomes vacant, he said: "A number of investors have said that resetting [rents] is actually more important than the actual rent cap. So there's a lot of different things in the mix here that need to be examined."
"Renters have to be protected as well, and how we get that balance between renters, and ensuring that we have their properties available for those who want to rent as well, because that is a growing cohort out there of people who need somewhere to rent, and looking at that balance there to ensure that we get these apartments built, which are absolutely critical.
"If we solve the housing crisis in Dublin, we solve the housing crisis for the entire country".
