Workplaces must be made family-friendly - report

A major international report released today recommends that parents with very young children should be entitled to work part-time if they so wish.

The report, by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, looked at reconciling work and family life in Austria, Japan and Ireland, and says employers and unions should make their workplaces more family-friendly.

Family Affairs Minister Mary Coughlan has launched details of the report this afternoon.

The report calls for a reduction in the long-term benefit expectation among clients of one-parent family payments.

It also calls on the Government to explore options to use existing education facilities to address out-of-school-hours care needs.

The most significant recommendation in the report relates to childminding - it calls for additional public investment in childcare and ensuring that these childcare services are of good quality and calls for greater promotion of child development.

Such public spending, the report says, should be focused on the parents rather than the providers.