A new weekly childcare payment of up to £20 per child and an increase in Child Benefit are among the main proposals contained in a pre-budget submission presented to the Government yesterday.
The submission comes from Childcare 2000 Campaign, a coalition of six groups including the National Women's Council of Ireland, the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed, the National Children's Nurseries Association.
The Minister of State for Justice, Ms Mary Wallace, who attended the launch of the submission, said she would bring the group's recommendations to a cabinet sub-committee on childcare.
The Childcare 2000 Campaign wants a new benefit - a Parent's Childcare Payment - to be paid to parents for each of their children. For children aged up to five, this would be £20 per child per week and for those between 6 and 14 it would be £10 per child per week.
It also wants Child Benefit increased from £32 per month to £40 per month - at an estimated cost of £100 million to the exchequer.