Parents may be hit with higher childcare costs as overheads increase, according to providers.
It comes after the Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman said earlier this week that the cost of creche services would not go above the average monthly mortgage payment.
Providers say costs will rise due to reduced capacity because of social distancing, higher overheads and more regulation.
Speaking on Newstalk's Down to Business programme, Alice Walsh from the Harcourt Creche in Dublin said fees will have to be increased.
She said: "We do require more staff, I think fees were going to go up anyway before COVID.
"The cost of childcare, the regulations, the ratios, but now, unfortunately, our fees are definitely going to go up.
Ms Walsh said she has been asking parents to book now for August and September as childcare facilities can't guarantee they can operate with reduced numbers.
She said: "For the month of July, I can ease you all back but when it comes to August I really do need to know who's coming back and who is not.
"People are saying, 'I had a level of childcare set up while you were closed so I can kind of wing it for July and August and I'll let you know in September'.
"I need to know by August who's coming back and who's not as we can't operate on those reduced numbers."
File photo. Credit: PAClodagh Moynihan, the Managing Director of Oakview Childcare in Kerry, added that providers are struggling to make ends meet as it is.
She said: "Our staffing has gone up, our numbers have gone down, and any new staff we take on we can't put them on the wage subsidy so the money for those staff comes from the restart grant, the reopening grant that we did receive from the government and topped up then by ourselves."
Meanwhile, Frances Byrne from Early Childhood Ireland said there may be more issues from September if schools don't fully reopen.
She said the reopening of creches on June 29th was "good news" for many children.
She added that childcare providers have "a very good working relationship with local schools" and "there is a feeling in the early years sector that eyes are being kept on how it will go" regarding the reopening of schools in the new academic year.
Ms Byrne said: "With an eye to September, some of our members would be very concerned that if there is a limited reopening of schools, whether that's through numbers or hours, that pressure may then fall on them."
She said: "There are a good few hundred creches based in schools that provide preschool and/or after school so early education is very much a part of the primary education system and the link is very strong."
