The extortionate costs associated with childcare are often discussed, but there is a view that people who choose to have children should be expected to pay for this rather than the taxpayer.
Are childcare costs just the price you have to pay for being a parent?
Larissa Nolan thinks the government "doesn't get enough credit for what it does provide, and compared to other countries we actually do quite well and it's a good model."
"I'm not sure it's fair that other people who don't have children should pay for me to put my child into childcare."
Dr Sheila Garrity is a lecturer in early childhood studies in the UNESCO Child & Family Research Centre at NUI Galway. She thinks that investment in early years pays off later on.
"Rather than see it as a burden on taxpayers, we should be seeing it as an investment that our society is making in children and young families."
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