Overstretched working mums spend 43 hours on unpaid work in the home compared to 22 hours for working fathers, according to the study, which looked at how Europeans combine working time with domestic duties and leisure pursuits.

Only the famous Italian mother, with 46 hours, and the British mum, with 47, put in more unpaid hours of work at home. The average performace is 32 hours.

But while it may be cold comfort to busy Irish mums, the 22 hours of unpaid work in the home put in by working fathers is actually higher than the average across Europe of just under 20 hours. Also, Irish men put in one of the longest paid working weeks at 46 hours, which is above the European average of 43 hours but below the 50 hours put in by the work-hungry fathers in the new accession states. Combining paid and unpaid work, Irish women work an average of 74 hours compared to 68 hours worked by their partners, according to the survey.

Although Irish men and women are among the hardest working people in Europe and want a more equitable worklife balance, they are reluctant to take time off work if it affects their earnings.

When asked whether they would like to reduce the time spent working even if they earned less money, just 14.8% of Irish men agreed and 20.6% of women. In general, Irish men think their work is more important than women do and are less eager to take time off work if that means a drop in income.

"Working more or fewer hours if needed" was considered the most important option for combining work with other activities. But "taking a sabbatical or career break" comes well down the list of 12 flexitime options with just a fifth of Irish people considering that as important, presumably because such breaks would be unpaid.

"Taking extra paid time off to look after relatives" comes well down the list for Ireland with just 19% regarding this as important compared to an EU average of 28%. But this low figure could be down to the fact that just 7% of Irish women said such an option was available to them.

"Taking extra pay instead of holidays" is the fourth most favoured flexitime option of the 12 presented, with 29% of Irish people believing this is important. This is well ahead of our more leisure-seeking continental European colleagues where less than 20% consider it important. But it is strongly favoured among the new member states.

The survey explains that younger workers tend to favour more paid work at the expense of time off.

This starts to change as one enters what the survey refers to as the 'rush hour of life', when people are working fulltime but also have children and parents to care for.

A critical factor in considering all these work-life balance options is the individual's financial situation. The survey notes a clear divide between the original 15 EU countries and the new member states with the former favouring more time off and the latter preferring to work through all stages to maximise their income.

In regard to satisfaction with their own free time, Irish men and women differ with 75% of men satisfied compared to 64% of women, no doubt reflecting the fact that women have less free time than their partners.