The Labour Party has accused the Government of doing "next to nothing" to help families cope with the cost of childcare.
Labour's spokeswoman on childcare, Kathleen O'Meara said: "The Government is not doing enough to make chilcare more affordable".
Labour's spokeswoman on childcare, Kathleen O'Meara
"Mothers and fathers find they must work every available hour in order to afford childcare with little time to perform their role as parents."
"This of course opens up an unfortunate catch 22 situation for many mothers who want work, but are unable to afford the childcare costs, as a result this drives huge numbers of women out of the workforce" she added.
Miss O'Meara's comments follow the publication of an OECD report citing the costs of childcare in Ireland as among the highest in Europe.
The Starting Strong II report published yesterday stated that the childcare sector in Ireland is largely unregulated, particularly when it comes to training of staff, with many having no formal preparation for their role.
It found that as the childcare sector is mainly private, parental fees are the major source of funding of services.
The report also notes that funding of publicly financed services for children under three years and outside-school provision was 0.007 per cent of GDP in 2002.