The Socialist Party is to propose amendments to the National Minimum Wage Bill to increase the starting rate to £5 for all workers.
It is calling on the Labour Party, the Greens, Independent TDs and unions to support the amendment. It already has the support of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union.
The Bill proposes a starting rate of £4.40 an hour from April, with lower rates for younger workers and those in training.
During the negotiations on the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF), the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation resisted efforts by the unions to have the rate increased to £5.
Announcing the campaign yesterday, the Socialist Party TD, Mr Joe Higgins, said that he did not accept the IBEC argument that introducing a minimum rate of £5 an hour would cost jobs in rural areas and small towns. He said that, if anything, employers in rural areas were making bigger profits because prices were the same.
The party's organiser, Mr Kevin McLoughlin, said that in towns such as Wexford, where pay rates had been publicised by trades councils through "name and shame" campaigns, it had been found that large, profitable companies were paying the same low rates as more vulnerable firms.
The campaign on a national minimum wage comes as the State's trade unions begin consulting members about the terms of the PPF.
The failure of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to secure immediate implementation of the £5 rate was one of the main disappointments in the negotiations.
However, this was partly offset by the abolition of PRSI on those workers earning less than £200 a week.
Mr Higgins welcomed this concession but said it was another case of the taxpayer having to subsidise low pay.