It's one of the key issues in this year's election: Depending on where you live, childcare costs in Ireland range between €800 - €1,100 per month for a full time place. Parents with two young children can expect to hand over approximately €2,000 a month - almost the complete after-tax salary of someone on €30,000.
Yikes.
And it gets worse; for a low-income, dual-earner family in Ireland with two young children, childcare fees consume at least 35 per cent of the family’s net income (40 per cent if you're a lone parent) in contrast to just 10-13 per cent across the EU.
As Labour reveals plans to "eradicate child poverty" by increasing the amount of child benefit paid to families by €3 per year until 2021, we take a closer look at the promises each party are making to Ireland's dubious parents ahead of the General Election on Friday February 26.
Fianna Fáil: As well as hopping on the extended parental leave bandwagon, FF promises their childcare tax credit plan would see working parents reclaim up to 40 per cent of their childcare costs up to €5,000 a year.
Sinn Féin: SF have pledged to extend maternity leave by six week and allow parents to share the extra leave as they see fit. They also believe that capping the cost of childcare at €180 per week per child, dropping down "in time" to €150, could save parents almost €5,000 a year. The party have promised an €80m investment in childcare worker training over five years with the aim of having a 60 per cent degree led workforce by 2025. An additional 1,000 Special Needs Assistants in Early Childhood Care and Education also form part of the plan.
Labour: If elected, the party says it plans to boost the child benefit collected by 623,000 families every month from €144 to €155. Labour is also dangling paid parental leave in front of voters as well as high quality, affordable childcare, extended free GP care and extended school meals programmes.
Fine Gael: Subsidised childcare places for children aged between nine months and three years old are at the heart of FG's plan, which it says would save a family €2,000 a year. The party also plans to extend paid leave to a combined 34 weeks between parents in the year following the child’s birth by extending shared paid leave by eight weeks. Fine Gael has pledged to invest €50m in after-school programmes for children between five and 12-year-old.
Which plan (if any) appeals to you? Join the conversation on Twitter @HerFamilydotie #GE2016
