The Institutes of Technology (ITs) have strongly defended their decision to introduce a levy on apprentices attending their colleges.
This comes as hundreds of apprentices around the country prepare to mount protests against the charge later today.
Up to 8,000 of the country's 26,500 apprentices attend ITs at any given time to complete the theoretical aspects of their courses.
However, their representatives say they have been told that unless they pay a fee of €223 for student services, they will not receive their exam results.
According to Mr Eamon Devoy of the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU), which is supporting the protest, hundreds of apprentices have contacted his organisation to oppose the new charge.
"The institutes may be affected by cuts in government funding, but to tax young workers in vocational training without consultation is arrogant in the extreme," he said. "Those who paid (the fee) said the only reason they paid was because they felt intimidated."
However, Mr Paul Hannigan, chairman of the council of directors of ITs, yesterday said it was only fair that waged apprentices make a contribution towards the charges.
To date, over half the apprentices had paid the charge, he said, while the ITs' own surveys showed that the services for which the charge applies were used substantially by apprentices. The TEEU, however, disputes the results of this survey.
"It's an equity issue," Mr Hannigan told The Irish Times. "If the majority of students are paying the charge, it is only fair that apprentices should contribute as well."
Mr Devoy last night said that apprentices were not in fact students, but employees, and as a result, should not be expected to pay the charge.
The protests are also being supported by the Union of Students of Ireland, the Teachers Union of Ireland, and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. They are due to be held at ITs in Dublin and elsewhere throughout the country all day today.