Like most parents, Michael and Anne Duigan, of Tullamore, Co Offaly, need to balance work and family. Their top priority is a secure environment for their three-year-old son Ross, but in trying to achieve this, both feel frustrated.

Michael, who works a 50-hour week in retail, including Saturdays and one Sunday in three, feels that he hasn't got enough time to spend with his wife and son. "Being a father is more difficult than I expected it to be," he says.

Anne, who quit a job as a manager when she couldn't find a creche place for Ross in Tullamore, feels like she has too much time on her hands.

"After working for 17 years, being at home full-time has been a huge culture shock. There are only so many shopping centres you can go around with a baby in a pram," she says.

Michael often feels fatigue, worry and all the other emotions that go with time poverty.

"With the demands of work, your time is very, very limited," he says. "When you come home in the evening you have to try to pull your weight. Communication takes time, so not having enough of it affects the level of care and attention you can give your child and limits the time you have to sit down and talk with your spouse."

More time off would be the obvious solution to Michael's torn loyalties, but the culture of the business world is that you get a prescribed amount of time off and that's it. Parents can seek extra time for family needs, but "eventually, leniency by the employer will run out," he says.

Anne, who is originally from Dublin, has all the time in the world, but feels "quite isolated". After all the preparation for birth, Anne was stunned to return home from hospital and to be left on her own with little community support, apart from a "brilliant" public health nurse. Her own mother lives 60 miles away.

"In Tullamore, there are no playgrounds, no activity centre, no creche in the shopping centre. You never get a break," she says. "You feel that if only there was another mother you could talk to, you would see that your feelings are normal." Recently, she found childcare for Ross three mornings a week.

"Mixing with other children has brought Ross on and he's become more settled, while I've had an opportunity to meet other mothers," Anne says.

Anne would like a part-time job, working mornings, even though her income would hardly cover the childcare. But then, "three-quarters of other mothers are also looking for morning work. We all want the same thing," she says.

The couple agree on the ideal solution: if Michael could work a little less, and Anne could work part-time, they would both have the freedom to devote more "quality" time to Ross and each other. But ideal solutions are hard to find in Irish society, where parenting is regarded as a leisure activity to be fitted in around other time demands.