The Eves have organised their working lives to allow them maximum family time, while still paying a mortgage and enjoying satisfying careers
Parents: Matt Eve, marketing consultant, and Katherine, paediatric nurse, living in Lucan, Co Dublin.
Children: Thomas (two), and baby due in January
What they have: Childminder for Thomas
What they want: Longer paid maternity leave; financial relief (such as tax credits or childcare vouchers) to help with childcare costs
Matt got off the commuting treadmill by starting his own consultancy service, Better Business Results, with an office near home. Katherine, a specialist paediatric nurse, commutes to a three-day working week at Temple Street Children's University Hospital.
Thomas is cared for three days a week by a registered childminder, Orna Creegan, who offers high-quality care in her own home. She will also be caring for the new baby, although Katherine would like to have at least 26 weeks' paid maternity leave in order to spend as much time as possible with the baby before returning to work. A longer period of paid leave is especially important for breastfeeding mothers, she believes.
The Eves are delighted with the nurturing family atmosphere, based in the local community, that their childminder provides, and believe that the arrangement is good for their son's sense of belonging and well-being. But the couple are dreading the cost of childminding after the baby is born and Katherine returns to work next May. Three days' childminding for the two children will cost €960 per month, 80 per cent of Katherine's after-tax income. Next September, Thomas will be three and starting morning pre-school, adding to the costs. They would like to see free pre-school here, as in the UK.
The couple are aware that it hardly makes financial sense for Katherine to work outside the home, but she loves her job, has worked hard to achieve her level of expertise and feels that nursing is an important part of her identity, so she doesn't do it "just for the money". She considers it unfair, as well as counterproductive for society, for a highly trained nurse to be forced to give up work simply due a lack of affordable, quality childcare.
Matt would like to see tax credits for childcare, but only if these were balanced by equitable financial relief for stay-at-home parents.