All rents would be frozen at current rates for three years if a new bill passes through the Dáil.
The bill is calling for an immediate rent freeze with all new rental properties pegged at market rates in that area.
The bill, introduced by Sinn Féin , also calls for a review of whether tax reliefs could be given to renters.
All the major parties, bar Fine Gael, have said they are in favour of freezing rents.
Sinn Féin's Housing Spokesman, Eoin Ó Broin said there needs to be a control on runaway rents.
There's a growing number of people, many of them young, but some of them at the later stage in their working life, whose incomes are between €35,000 and €75,000, who simply cannot afford to rent accommodation at reasonable rates in our cities, and increasingly, in our towns.
He added: "The rent pressure zones simply aren't working. They were designed to constrain rents to below 4% in high demand areas. Consistently, they have failed to do so.
"While many of us argued some years ago, for rent certainty, linking rent reviews to Consumer Price Index, to keep rent reviews in line with inflation, the situation has gotten so critical, that we now need much more urgent and radical action."
