A crèche catering for 58 children in one of the most disadvantaged areas of the State faces closure due to cuts announced this month by the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan.
Ms Coughlan said that as part of her Department's drive to save €58 million the payment of the crèche supplement would be discontinued.
Our Lady's Nursery in Ballymun, Dublin, will, according to its manager Sister Majella McCabe, "have to close" if plans to end the payment are not reversed. The parents of all 58 children there receive the supplement. Some 13 childcare workers would also lose their jobs.
Crèche supplement is paid to parents dependent on social welfare. Parents receiving it do so on the recommendation of a public health nurse, for social, economic or emotional reasons.
"Ballymun is a tough place for children to grow up," says Sister Majella.
"There are a lot of hurdles for children and their parents. This facility means the parents can go out and get training, return to education, get work - make a better life for themselves and their children."
The nursery, established 32 years ago, offers Montessori and play-school to children from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. The children get a hot meal every day and, according to Sister McCabe, "progress enormously here".
"Everything from their hand-eye co-ordination, their basic literacy, to their self esteem come on leaps and bounds. If the crèche supplement is ended the children would lose a service that sets them up for primary school and the parents will lose a service that enables them to go out and improve their families' lives. It is unbelievable that the Government could even consider this. I am in shock," she said.
Speaking at an estimates briefing this month the Minister said the creche supplement was only paid in emergency circumstances and only for a number of weeks to parents who were ill or could not look after their children for a limited period.
The parents of children at Our Lady's however, are in receipt of the payment for the entire two years their children attend, says Sister McCabe.