Voluntary organisations are under threat because staff are leaving for better paid jobs in the public service, the trade union Impact has said.
Organisations providing services for drug users, rape victims and homeless people are all suffering from the pay gap, the union's biennial conference in Killarney heard today.
Delegates called on the Government to properly fund pay rises in the sector to prevent a "haemorrhage of skilled staff from voluntary and community sector organisations".
Impact official Dessie Robinson said a pay gap of 10 to 15 per cent had opened up between staff in voluntary sector organisations and comparable public servants because "the Government consistently refused to fund Sustaining Progress and benchmarking awards in the sector.
"First it's a battle to get the employer to agree to pay the increases in Sustaining Progress and benchmarking. Then it's a battle to get the Government to stump up the money," he said.
"That leaves hard-pressed voluntary bodies with an impossible choice - Pay the increases out of already inadequate existing funds or risk losing the staff you need to provide the services," Mr Robinson said.
He said "tens of thousands" of voluntary and community sector staff worked at "the sharp edge" of public service delivery in areas such as housing, drugs, homelessness, disability, health, education and employment.
"These include the Rape Crisis Centre, women's refuges and local drugs tasks forces. But winning pay increases is a constant battle for them," Mr Robinson said.
"The money has to come out of their overall funding, which reduces the resources available to provide these services.
"The Government and funding agencies must ensure that pay is funded separately for voluntary bodies so that the money allocated for these essential services is preserved," said Mr Robinson.
He said Impact, which is the main union for voluntary sector staff, recently won an important Labour Court case that ruled staff in the Clondalkin Drugs Task Force should get the same benchmarking increases as similar staff in the mainstream public services.
"But the funding department, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, has so far refused to fund the award," he said.