Recruitment and retention is a "big problem for the majority of childcare services and the main issue is the rate of pay", according to SIPTU's Head of Campaigns.
Darragh O'Connor highlighted the impact of these staffing issues on childcare providers and has called for increased Government investment.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said it is incredibly hard to recruit and while an increase in minimum rates of pay has helped, the "house is still on fire".
He said: "They are struggling to hire staff, to keep on to the ones they have.
"It means that they are struggling to keep the staff to child ratio which is a legal mandate ... the options people have is you close down rooms, or you have to restrict your sevice or you are not able to expand it to be able to reach the demand."
He also said for those who remain working in childcare their workload is increasing as a result of the recruitment and retention problem.
Mr O'Connor said the turnover of staff is around 20% on average across the sector and this can affect the quality of care.
"When you don't have that stability, when there is another worker at the door every couple of months that has a negative impact on quality ... for the children that they are caring for they need that stability, that is how you improve quality within the sector," he said.
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Mr O'Connor said the survey SIPTU carried out shows there is increased stress and increased workload for staff who remain in this sector.
It is "a vicious cycle of the recruitment challenges, people working really hard and people struggling within their work", he said.
Mr O'Connor said early educators and managers are often very skilled, dedicated and compassionate and that while there has been a "significant increase in the minimum rate of pay, it has traditionally been a low paid sector."
Many are moving on and bringing their skills to other industries such as teaching and as special needs assistants, he said.
