Three "super junior" ministers received big pay hikes after laws were passed in the Dáil on Friday, but opposition parties slammed the "obscene" move.
Minister of State for Climate and Transport Hildegarde Naughton, Government Chief Whip Jack Chambers and Minister of State for Agriculture Pippa Hackett will get an extra €16,000.
The extra layer of cash will come on top of their €124,000 salary for serving as Minister of State.
Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty pointed out that a staff nurse would have to work every day from the beginning of the year up until last Friday to earn €16,000.
He said: "I think it's obscene, I think it is wrong, I think the pay of TDs of Senators, of office holders should actually be cut, not increased. If ever there was a time, in the middle of a pandemic, this is the time to be taking decreases not increases in pay."
Meanwhile, his party colleague David Cullinane pointedly asked: "Who would have thought that the most oppressed section of our society in terms of pay were three junior ministers? It beggars belief that the Government would bring forward this proposal."
However, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris stressed there was "a real stench of hypocrisy" in the argument Sinn Féin was making
He added: "Of course Sinn Féin ministers in Northern Ireland accepted a pay increase in April, during the height of the pandemic, your pay went up!
"I presume Sinn Féin ministers will be marching in to Stormont on Monday and rushing through legislation to reduce the pay of ministers."
He stated that Sinn Féin MLAs took in a huge funding haul of €4.7 million in a closed parliament while Stormont was closed between January 2017 and October 2019.
