The Dáil has heard renewed calls for sub-minimum wage rates to be abolished.
Currently, employers can pay workers under 20 below the national minimum wage - a practice recently described as 'discriminatory' by the Mandate Trade Union.
The rate for under 18s is €7.91, while 18-year-olds receive €9.04, rising to €10.17 for those aged 19.
Sinn Fein's enterprise spokesperson, Louise O'Reilly, says young workers should be allowed to be paid the same as their older colleagues:
"I think it is unfair to have available a reservoir of workers who are lower paid than other workers.
"There are no sub-minimum rates of work, there are no sub-minimum rates of hours, there are no sub-miniume rates of effort - there is only sub-minimum rates of pay.
"They do the same work, and the principal of equal work for equal value should apply."
