The latest increase in rent shows the government has "failed spectacularly" to deal with the housing crisis, according to the Sinn Fein leader.
New figures from the Residential Tenancies Board show rent nationally was up 9% in the final quarter of last year.
Cork City has the second highest average rent for new tenancies in the country standing at 1,392 euro
Year on year in the county rents rose by 13.7% while in the city they were up 6.6%
Sinn Fein has once again called for a refundable tax credit to be given to all renters which would be equal to one month’s rent.
President Mary Lou McDonald says current policies on rent are forcing more people into homelessness
"We are now close to breaking the pre COVID peak of 10,000 people homeless, and that by the way is just the official figure. So the facts speak for themselves, you and Minister Darragh O'Brien, have failed spectacularly to get a grip on this crisis. And the fact is that your housing plan is not fit for purpose.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin says it's been shown that a tax rebate wouldn't help renters to deal with the costs.
The RTB - the rent index is designed to measure development and rental prices faced by those taking up new tenancies, the tax credit you're talking about, would only add to the price of those rents. It would just be inflationary and is not a guarantee at all, that it would result in a reduction of increasing rents for new tenancies, none whatsoever"
