Childcare facilities across the country are struggling to recruit and retain staff.
A new SIPTU study found more than 90 per cent of managers reported that recruitment challenges are negatively impacting services.
The Government increased funding to the sector by an extra 173 million euro last year.
SIPTU's Darragh O'Connor says more money is needed to attract people into childcare:
'We're nowhere near where we need to be to address the staffing crisis.
We've started to tackle this but Government need to be able to invest more money.
Employers need to be able to sit down and negotiate a decent deal that will attract and retain people to the sector.'