The Simon Community has tonight described Ireland's rental sector as broken.

The group were reacting to figures released tonight from the RTB Rent Index, showing rents rose by 7.1 per cent annually in the first quarter of this year, when compared with last year.

However, the Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy says we're seeing a clear slow-down in the rate of rent inflation - with the slowest national growth rate in a year at just 0.4 per cent.

Today we published our Q1 2018 Rent Index in conjunction with @ESRIDublin which is based on actual rents being paid in over 19,800 new tenancies registered with the RTB during the quarter. Click here to read the report: https://t.co/UOgR2KaPF9 pic.twitter.com/IgWVya2phk — Residential Tenancies Board (@RTBinfo) June 12, 2018

Simon Communities National Spokesperson Niamh Randall says action's needed as the market's under huge pressure.

"There is a huge amount of pressure across the private rental sector ... we need to focus our energies on supply of housing... and security of tenure."

- Digital Desk