The introduction of a new parental payment and a £10-a-month increase in child benefit are proposed in a new policy document on children and families published by the Labour Party.
The document, A Better Deal for Children and Families, argues that a minister with specific responsibility for children should be appointed at Cabinet level.
The Labour Party spokeswoman on children and the family, Ms Roisin Shortall, said the current position where child policy was formulated on an ad hoc basis had led to an absence of adequate protection for children at risk from abuse and poverty.
She said the needs of children "can only be adequately addressed through the appointment of a cabinet minister with exclusive responsibility for child policy".
Labour has also published a Bill to amend the Constitution to give effect to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ms Shortall said the UN Convention defined "the civil, political and cultural rights of children and, if it was incorporated into the Constitution, it would reform our approach to child policy from being purely welfare-based to being rights-based".
With the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, expected to announce a substantial package of childcare measures in his Budget next Wednesday, the Labour policy document sets out its approach to the subject.
Labour, which is opposed to a tax-based solution to the problem of childcare, is proposing the introduction of a new parental payment.
This would be paid at a rate of £20 a week for children aged five years and under with a weekly payment of £10 for children aged between six and 14 years. The parental payment would be in addition to the existing child benefit which Labour argues should be increased by £10 per child per month.
The document also includes a series of measures to provide access to quality pre-school and childcare facilities in areas of disadvantage at a cost of £30 million. A further £10 million would be spent on upgrading premises of these pre-school facilities.