Housing has been one of the big issues of the general election campaign - and the possibility of a rent freeze has been at the centre of the debate.
It's an idea that's been ruled out by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, while a three-year freeze is a central part of Sinn Féin's manifesto.
The housing spokespeople for the three parties discussed the proposal and other housing issues on the Hard Shoulder today.
Sinn Féin's Eoin O'Broin acknowledged that "a rent freeze on its own won't work" - so his party is proposing it as one of three measures that would be implemented together.
He observed: "We have to put money back in renters' pocket - it's now €9,000 more a year to rent in Dublin than it was three or four years ago. That's not sustainable.
"A refundable tax credit up to the value of a month's rent would put that month's rent back in your pocket - that's the quickest and simplest way to do it.
"It would be capped at the average rent... depending on the geographical area you're in. Crucially, if you're paying less rent, you get less of the refundable tax credit."
The Sinn Féin housing spokesperson argued that such a tax credit would not only help renters but would also mean more money available for people to spend at local shops and businesses.
He added: "The second thing is we have to stop rents rising for an emergency period and an emergency period only.
"You would have a rent freeze for three years, linked to the Residential Tenancies Board Index for all existing and new tenancies. It can only be for three years.
"Then crucially the State has to invest in a genuine supply of affordable, cost rental accommodation."
"Unconstitutional"
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said he's received advice that a rent freeze would be unconstitutional - but argued that it 'wouldn't be a good policy idea."
He claimed: "The unintended consequences of a rent freeze - although it sounds very attractive because rents are too high - is it kills supply.
"It would kill the supply of new rental properties onto the market."
Minister Murphy suggested there's also "good evidence" from other cities that have implemented rent freezes that it's not effective.
He said his party is instead focused on delivering new supplies of housing - saying that all three of the parties were in agreement that cost-rental was a good idea.
He pointed to a pilot project that is currently in construction at Enniskerry Road in Stepaside, Dublin - where renters will pay €1,200 per month for two-bedroom apartments.
Minister Murphy said: "They're being built at the moment - we only turned the sod last summer. If we get this right, we can expand it across the country."
"A lot of renters don't want to be renting"
Fianna Fáil's Darragh O'Brien, meanwhile, said the process for getting to the cost rental pilot project in Dublin has been too slow.
He argued: "I think all of us agree we need cost rental - the problem is the cost rental that Eoghan Murphy refers to was announced in 2015, and not one cost rental home has actually been built.
"Enniskerry Road was started five years after it was announced."
Mr O'Brien added: "A lot of renters don't want to be renting - they want to be in either affordable housing or have their own home, or at least affordable long-term secure rents."
However, he did back the Housing Minister's suggestions that a rent freeze couldn't be legally introduced - despite his party having previously voted on Dáil legislation supporting such a measure.
He observed: "The bill was brought to the House, we said we'd look it... we said we'd seek legal advice which we did, and which we published. It shows that it's not doable, and it would be unconstitutional.
"As Eoin Ó Broin has said, even if it could be done, it's not the silver bullet."
