Taosiseach Leo Varadkar has dismissed calls for a rent freeze as such a measure is "counterproductive" and would reduce housing supply.
Fianna Fáil joined Sinn Féin and Labour in calling for an emergency nationwide freeze on rents to address the housing crisis.
The latest rental report from Daft.ie was discussed during Leader’s Questions in the Dáil today.
It found that the average rent in Ireland has hit a new record high of over €1,400 a month.
Rents rose by 5.2% around the country in the first nine months of the year, with the average monthly rent in Dublin now €2,044, up 104% on prices in 2011.
Mr Varadkar responded to comments from Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin who said that thousands of people were trapped in "high-rent misery".
He said it was time for a rent freeze given the "exorbitant" levels of rent that people are paying, and that the figures released today were "extremely worrying" for young people facing another ten years of "rent misery".
Young people are being failed by the current housing policy and there needs to be "a dramatic change" in terms of house building, he said.
Mr Varadkar ruled out the possibility of introducing a rent freeze, citing rent control measures and increased supply as solutions to the problem.
He said that despite "very high" rents, the controls were working and benefiting thousands of people.
Additionally, the Taoiseach said a rent freeze could negatively impact supply. It would benefit those already renting but people looking to move into rental accommodation would have difficulty, he said.
He was also responding to Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire who told the Dáil that "a whole generation are being locked out of ever having a permanent home".
Today's rental figures "reflect the hardship ordinary people are facing" and that many young people are struggling to save for a deposit to buy their own house.
Mr Ó Laoghaire said: “The Taoiseach is making a lot of the fact that the rate of increase in rent is slowing. What he is saying to people is that you aren’t drowning as fast as you were last month, but you are still drowning and it’s going to get worse."
