Labour leader Brendan Howlin wants to give all workers a boost after claiming “too many people are surviving on poor pay”.
The current minimum wage in Ireland is set at €9.80.
But Labour argues €12.30, a living wage, is what is really needed to raise more people out of poverty.
Mr Howlin was speaking at the parliamentary party’s annual pre-Dail term think-in in Cork.
He said: “We have a very unequal society in terms of pay and we need a pay rise in our country.
“Too many people are surviving on very poor pay.
“That has been masked somewhat by the Labour Party over the generations to improve social welfare and put in place a very fair taxation system.
“But fundamentally, too many people are living on too little money.
“20% of workers are in danger of poverty.
“If you look at the statistics, working people in comparison to any other developed country, get a raw deal in this country.
“So we want to address that, we want to make sure that we have a living wage for everybody.
“We want that to start in the public service to ensure that everybody who works at least in the State’s pay gets a living wage. We want that to migrate right across our economy and we want employers to pay that.”
Meanwhile, Mr Howlin has called on the Taoiseach to be more upfront with the opposition about preparations for an increasingly likely no-deal Brexit.
Mr Howlin welcomed the announcement that Tanaiste Simon Coveney will brief the main party leaders tomorrow.
But he is still demanding more transparency from the Government.
Mr Howlin said: “We’ve given great slack to the Government because if they did spell out what would happen on the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, there was a fear that it would be used against the EU in the negotiations.
“But now it’s absolute disclosure time as far as the Labour Party is concerned.”
