MY BUDGET: teacher Cora Tighe has plenty on her plate. As well as working full-time as a teacher at her local community school she is expecting her third child next month.

While the working hours of a teacher may appear more childcare friendly than some other professions, the inflexibility of parental leave is a problem. Ideally she would like to take the leave on a day-by-day basis spread over a period of months.

Instead because of timetabling she is forced to take it in a block.

One thing she and several of her colleagues would like to see in this year's Budget is changes to this rule. And if this isn't possible then she would at least like to be able to pass her leave on to her husband, whose job does allow more flexibility.

"It would be great to have more flexibility in parental leave," she says. "And even better if it was extended to 26 weeks as has been talked about. This would really assist people."

Another big issue for Ms Tighe and her family is paying for childcare for her two children. In next week's Budget she would like to see the introduction of some sort of tax relief system to help out with the "huge burden" of paying for childcare.

"We have to budget every day because of what comes out of the budget," she says. "And childcare for any more than one child is an enormous cost."

Another change that would improve Ms Tighe's life is the provision of childcare facilities at her school. "They do this in Italy at a very low cost to the teachers, so why can't it be done here?" she says. "Something like that would really benefit us - you would be able to go in and see your child at lunchtime and that would be great."

With the addition to the family expected very soon, childcare is the buzzword in the Tighe household and will likely remain so for the next few years.