Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik said €4 billion would be appropriate to spend in this year's budget and is calling on the Government to place a cap on childcare fees.
Her comments come ahead of the Labour Party think-in, which is taking place today.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Bacik said fee caps are an important measure to alleviate pressure on households and she believes the Government could move swiftly on this.
"We need to see families seeing a cap of €200 per month on childcare fees, bringing us to the level we see in other European countries," she said.
"We believe the money is there. We have got costings on that from Government of €270 million. It is not excessive. That is where we could really see a huge difference made to households around the country."
She said it would be a huge saving and investment in the early years’ education of children.
Ms Bacik also called for "public transport ambition" and believes Ireland could copy Germany with the €9 fare per month to enable people to travel cheaply around the country.
Speaking about the measures she expects to be announced in Budget 2023, Labour leader Ivana Bacik said: 'We are in favor of a mixture, a combination of universal and targeted measures, and I think that's the answer.' | https://t.co/jZge7My7C8 pic.twitter.com/wazYq6DtFU
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 8, 2022
The Labour Party leader said it has resulted in a reduction in carbon emissions and costs so it is "a win-win".
"A huge amount more" needs to be done on renewable energy and the Government has not done enough to invest in this, she added. More energy storage capacity needs to be "future-proofed" and that it would be "regressive" to build storage facility only relating to fossil fuels.
The Dublin Bay South TD said "far more ambitious" incentives need to be offered by Government.
Ms Bacik gave the example of home installation grants on solar panels which she said needs to be vastly increased.
"We need to see people almost paid to install solar because that is a way we can futureproof energy security," she said.
