Only 17 percent of people see creches as the best way to look after children younger than five, according to a new survey commissioned by the Iona Institute.

The poll, carried out by Amárach Research and published yesterday, found that just under half of Irish people, 49pc, think the preferred option for children in this age group is to be looked after during the day by a parent while more than a quarter, 27pc, think the preferred option is to be looked after by another family member such as a grandparent.

In addition, the poll found that 62pc of people want State help to be provided to families in the form of a direct payment such as Child Benefit. Just 30pc want extra money allocated to improve day-care instead.

The poll was commissioned after the recent Prime Time programme that uncovered mistreatment of children at a number of crèches.

Among parents with children under the age of five, support for having a parent look after the children at home rose to 55 percent from the average of 49 percent.

In addition, support for a direct payment such as Child Benefit rose among this group from 62 percent to 70 percent.

The poll was based on a representative sample of 1,000 people and was conducted earlier this month.

Commenting on the poll on behalf of The Iona Institute, Professor Patricia Casey: “It should not surprise us that so many people believe it is best that small children are looked after at home during the day either by a parent or a another family member.

“People know that in general parents love and know their own children best and can provide the best care for them. They also know that next to this, another family member is usually best placed to care for their children”.

She continued: “A vital issue that came up after the Prime Time programme was how best the State can help parents with young children. Should we plough more money into day-care centres in order to try and improve their quality or continue to make direct payments to parents?

“Extra State funding of creches would have to come from somewhere and Minister for Children, Francis Fitzgerald suggested it should come from Child Benefit. Education Minister, Ruairi Quinn has also suggested something similar”.

Professor Casey stated: “The Amarach poll shows that a clear two-to-one majority of the public prefer that a direct payment is made to families instead of that money being given to improve crèche quality.

“This is not surprising either. People want a choice as to how best to look after their children. The State should not prefer the choice of day-care over the choice of home. In countries such as Sweden it is now very hard to look after small children at home and therefore the vast majority of young children are placed in day-care. This takes away real choice and we should not go down that path.”