Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has ruled out reversing a 5% pay cut for around 17,000 low-paid school secretaries and non-teaching staff imposed at the beginning of this year.
Around 500 secretaries belonging to the IMPACT trade union have already voted to take industrial action over the pay cut - though disruption for students is not anticipated.
They point out that their pay is being cut despite the fact that they do not enjoy any of the benefits of public servants, including pensions - and that many are earning little more than the minimum wage.
The row arose after the Department of Education and Skills instructed all schools and VECs to impose pay cuts of 5% on up to 17,000 low-paid non-teaching staff, to match last year's public service pay cuts.
However, an anomaly arose for school secretaries hired after 1990 - as they are employed by individual schools and VECs, and are paid out of a grant to school boards.
They are not on the payroll of the Department of Education, but are funded indirectly through grants from the Department.
They do not have public service employment conditions, pensions or a standardised rate of pay, with some earning barely above the minimum wage.
Despite this, their pay has been cut in line with public servants who enjoy those benefits.
Replying to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Olivia Mitchell, Mr Noonan said the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009 provided for a pay cut for all people employed by public service bodies from 1 January 2010.
He said that such reductions apply irrespective of whether a post is funded wholly or partly through non-Exchequer funds or income.
He said legal advice had confirmed that non-teaching staff - whether employed in public or private schools - are deemed to be public servants under the legislation.
Mr Noonan said his predecessor, Brian Lenihan, had approved a temporary exemption for certain categories of education workers including caretakers and secretaries until 31 December, 2010.
Accordingly, the provisions of the act had only been applied to those workers since January of this year.
Mr Noonan's response states that it is important to understand that there is a variety of staff across the education sector, who are employed by public service bodies but who are either wholly or partly funded from non-Exchequer sources.
However, there are also staff undertaking the same or very similar duties whose posts are fully Exchequer funded.
All of these staff have now been subject to the terms of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Act 2009.
