Martina Dempsey feels she is effectively excluded from the workforce because she can't afford childcare for her three children - Alannah, Cian and Ryan.
The cheapest day care she can find in her area of Tallaght is £90 (€114) per week but there are no part-time places or rates available.
Ms Dempsey pays £10 per week for her youngest son to attend a play group for two hours a day, Monday to Thursday.
"The only way I can go back to work now is part-time and it would have to be nights," she says.
Ms Dempsey wasn't expecting much from the Budget and welcomes the increase in child benefit.
When her fourth child is born in a few weeks' time, the family's combined benefit will increase by £110 per month. "It's a good thing that we'll be getting that a bit earlier than before," she says.
The child benefit will be paid in May and backdated to April.
Ms Dempsey and her children are receiving maintenance from her husband, from whom she is separated.
She is glad that her husband's take-home pay will increase somewhat with the widening of the tax bands.
"Overall, I don't feel that I gained much from the Budget.
"It does nothing to change my situation," Ms Dempsey said.
As she does not qualify for a medical card, one ongoing expense that Ms Dempsey worries about with her young family is doctor's bills.