The Flannery family of Cabinteely, Co Dublin, had high expectations of the Budget. They had hoped it would make a difference to their lives and make it easier for working parents with children to pay for childcare.
But last night they expressed a sense of anti-climax and a lack of recognition of their circumstances.
Paul and Edel Flannery have two boys, aged three and one, and they pay £900 (€1,142) per month for the children to be cared for in a local creche.
On weekdays, Ms Flannery brings Conor and Eamonn to the Tiny Tots creche in Cabinteely at 7.30 a.m. on her way to work at AIB. Her husband, Paul, works shifts in a printing company and is sometimes free to bring the boys in a little later. The children are collected at around 6 p.m.
Ms Flannery had hoped to see some kind of universal parent payment, or tax relief for childcare. She is not overjoyed at what Mr McCreevy has delivered.
"There is no real news here about childcare, we already knew about the £290 million in the National Development Plan. I don't know if that can make a difference when Irish parents spend much more than that every year on childcare."
Even though the Flannerys will benefit from individualisation by having more of their income taxed at a lower standard rate, Ms Flannery is not in favour of the changes because she believes they are unfair.
She welcomed the four-week increase in paid maternity leave as a step in the right direction, but was disappointed not to hear something more substantial about parental leave.
She is currently entitled to take 14 weeks' parental leave to spend with her children up to the age of five, but cannot avail of this without paying to keep the boys' places in the creche. Without some kind of allowance, the couple cannot afford to take the leave.
An extra £50 per month in child benefit will not make much of a difference to the creche bills, Ms Flannery said. But she was happy that the move would help prevent child poverty.
She would be interested to hear more about the proposed incentives for employers to provide creches. "Anything that would increase the supply of places and make childcare more affordable would make a huge difference to us."
Her main concern is that the money allocated to the Government childcare programme will never produce tangible results.
She would be happy if parents and children could start to feel the benefits now. "My fear is that that sort of money could be spent and you would never see any effect," she said.