The Government "is getting it all wrong again" on increases in PSRI, Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has said.

The Government has signed off on a plan to increase PRSI over five years to replenish the Social Insurance Fund.

Under the plan, there will be incremental increases in in PRSI rates for employers, employees and the self-employed.

It comes as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government decided that the State pension age will remain at 66 and said that comes at a cost that must be covered with gradual increases in PRSI rates.

Mr Doherty said some employers, but not all, should pay more PRSI.

Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said there was an acknowledgment that employers' PSRI should increase.

Sinn Féin believes this should be on the portion of salaries over €100,000, he said. This would bring in €169m this year, he added.

Mr Doherty said he did not believe the increase would put off industries, such as pharma and tech.

Such an increase would still be significantly below the European average, he said, and would be a very modest increase.

"The issue here now is, who is, and at what stage, should people feel that burden. And we believe that the Government are getting it all wrong, again, in terms of the impact of this particularly at this point in time," he said.

Mr Doherty said the issue "shouldn't be a one size fits all" because there are certain companies that could take a bigger burden as a first step.

He pointed out that small and medium enterprises are "carrying a lot of the burden at the minute" because of necessary changes in minimum wage and auto enrolment.

Increase part of delivering important benefits

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said the increase was part of delivering important benefits.

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, he said these included maintaining the pension age at 66, as well as a recent change by Minister Heather Humphreys, so that if someone loses their job the support from the State means they will get a portion of what their earnings were, but capped at a certain level over a couple of months.

He said that the changes will preserve the Social Insurance Fund, as well as funding changes that Ireland will need when volatility in economies are seen.

"We are insuring we can look after an aging country," Mr Donohoe said.

He said this will provide huge support to the economy in the time ahead, maintaining the income within society that many businesses will depend upon.

Social insurance fund 'underwater' - ISME

Speaking on the same programme, Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) CEO Neil McDonnell said that increasing PRSI for employers is going to mean a significantly elevated cost of employment for employers.

He said that the changes over the next ten years will see the current pay roll tax percentage increase.

"We just have to realise as adults that if we take payroll taxes from those percentages, we must accept that the outcome of that is going to be increased costs of goods, services and food or decreased working hours for employees or a combination of the two," he said.

"I think the Government is reluctant to tell people what the value of your social insurance is ... It's almost like we're afraid to say, if you want services from the State and a pension for 20-30 years after you retire, you actually have to fund it ... We shouldn't be afraid to spell that out."

Mr McDonnell said the social insurance fund "is underwater to the tune of €249bn".

"That’s 1.5 times the size of Ireland’s national debt. It’s an astronomical amount of money and we have not been taking enough money into the social fund."