Large Budget spending on institutional daycare has left stay-at-home parents with almost nothing.

That’s according to the Director of the Iona Institute, David Quinn.

Yet, the great majority of parents of pre-school children neither use day-care nor wish to do so.

A recent Amarach Research poll commissioned by The Iona Institute shows that only one in five people want children under five placed in day-care during the working day. Almost half (45pc) think the ideal is that one parent stays at home with the child during the day, while 24pc say their preferred option is for the child to be looked after by another family member, such as a grandparent.

In addition, the Finance Minister also announced a small increase of €100 in the Home-Carers Credit.

David Quinn says this leaves single-income couples even further behind their double-income counterparts, exacerbating the effects of tax individualisation which caused such controversy when it was first introduced.