Childcare is the number one issue for voters in the upcoming byelections in Kildare North and Meath, the Labour Party has claimed.
Speaking in Navan today, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said his party's canvassers were reporting "unprecedented concern and considerable anger" about the issue on the doorsteps.
Mr Rabbitte said: "Both constituencies have large numbers of young families who feel abandoned by the Government on the issue of childcare. Above all affordability is the problem people bring up at the doorstep."
"It is now commonplace for couples, with more than one child to pay more for childcare than for their mortgage. People feel they are being ground down by a Government that just doesn't listen and doesn't care," he added.
Mr Rabbitte condemned Fianna Fáil for what he described as "piecemeal efforts to address the issue".
Polling in both constituencies will take place on March 11th.