The Government has been heavily criticised after new figures showed that rent prices rose as reforms came into force on 1 March, with heated exchanges seen in the Dáil this afternoon over the issue.
According to the statistics, based on advertised prices from Daft.ie, rents increased nationwide by 4.4% from December 2025 to March of this year.
This was the largest quarterly increase recorded by the property website since 2002.
Market rents are more than one third above their pre-Covid levels and almost 80% higher than 10 years ago, while the availability of rental accommodation has increased compared with three months ago and a year ago, the report found.
Opposition parties told the Dáil that the figures were proof the Government's rent reforms were not working - a claim rejected by Taoiseach Micheál Martin.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the changes had been a "disaster" and told Mr Martin that he has "nowhere to hide".
She accused the Taoiseach of being a "slíbhín" when it came to his approach to housing, a remark she refused to withdraw at the request of the Ceann Comhairle.
"It takes a very particular type of slíbhín to stand in the house and suggest it is OK for families to face a rent bill of €30,000 in Dublin," Ms McDonald, referencing the Daft.ie report.
When asked to withdraw the remark, she said: "A slíbhín is a slíbhín, a rose by any other name and a slíbhín by any other name".
Mr Martin responded, saying that Sinn Féin was "empty on substance" when it came to offering answers to the housing crisis, telling Ms McDonald that "sloganeering won't build houses".
"You have no substance when it comes to housing. The proof of the pudding is the last election as they (voters) didn't buy the pig in a poke you were offering."
The Taoiseach accused Ms McDonald of having "neither the manners or cop on" to listen to rational explanations on the issue and claimed the Government's rental rules were grounded in recommendations made by the Housing Commission.
The coalition built "36,000 additional houses last year" and "supply will moderate rental increases," he said.
Ms McDonald claimed the Government was presiding over "record rents and record evictions ... the most evictions since the famine". This was rejected by Mr Martin.
"Families with nowhere to go. Young people facing crippling rents, returning to their family home, or emigrating.
"Stress, worry, panic. That's what you have done to an entire generation with your eyes wide open," she added.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik said the Government was failing renters, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said that Ireland was becoming a country that young people could not afford to live in, and Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said that rents in Dublin were for the rich.
According to the Daft.ie report, the average market rent is €2,100 for a two-bedroom apartment as of early 2026.
The Government announced a number of rental reforms last year that came into effect on 1 March.
Any tenancies starting from that date are of a minimum duration of six years.
At the end of that term, landlords can raise rents beyond the cap to match the market rate.
Watch: Housing minister says rental situation 'very challenging'
Minister for Housing James Browne said the current rental situation was "very challenging" but he defended the rental reforms introduced by Government.
"I appreciate there is always going to be that short-term challenge, and in particular, some renters now are, I think, facing those challenges, but if we didn't make changes, we were never going to solve this housing crisis," Mr Browne said.
He was speaking at sod turning event to mark the commencement of works at a new development in Killinarden in Co Dublin, which promises 635 new homes, including 372 affordable homes and 125 social homes.
