The call to increase the weekly payment to people on the scheme from €50 to €100 will be made by the National Youth Council of Ireland this morning.

The issue is understood to be raised in the advocacy group’s analysis of the Government-backed employment system since it was introduced four years ago.

The document is also expected to call for significant reforms, including those focused on concerns the scheme could be displacing full-time jobs without giving guarantees to those taking part.

Since launching in 2011, JobBridge has been the subject of intense debate over whether it is helping, mainly young, people to get into work or assisting the Government in providing more attractive employment and training figures.

It works by giving unemployed participants first-hand experience of their sought-after careers.

Although they receive no payment from the host company, the State gives them €50 a week extra in their social welfare payments.

The analysis of the scheme will be published on the same day as the pressing issue of people living on a low income comes under intense scrutiny in the Dáil.

The cross-party jobs committee will discuss the matter with business groups Ibec and Isme, as well as experts from University College Cork and the Nevin Economic Research Institute.

Tonight, the Dáil will also begin a two-day discussion on the reality of income levels in Ireland and their hidden impact on living conditions for struggling families, an issue which was put forward by Independent TDs in the technical group.

Ibec, the business and employers lobbying organisation, will tell the jobs committee this afternoon that while it “recognises” that the minimum wage “should increase as economic circumstances improve”, it is opposed to any pay rises at the current time.

A briefing note prepared for the cross-party committee will state that the business umbrella group believes the current minimum wage is “appropriate, competitive, and affordable while also taking into account changes in the cost of living”.

The business body will also argue that an “inappropriately high national minimum wage” or “excessive” increases before the economy returns to full strength “will mean a reduction in employment, hours worked, and new job creation”. This, it claims, could “condemn them to extended long-term unemployment”.