Ireland ranks last of 38 developed countries when it comes to public family policies and second last on parental leave, a new study indicates.

The research by price comparison website confused.com found the average parental leave package across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states stands at 32.73 weeks for mothers and 4.73 for fathers.

However, Ireland was second from bottom with 7.6 weeks for mothers and just 0.5 weeks for fathers. Only the US, which has no paid parental leave, ranked lower. Romania came top for parental leave with 92.40 weeks for mothers and 4.70 for fathers.

The survey, which is based on figures from the OECD Family Database, also ranked Ireland worst of all OECD countries for “public family policies”, with the State scoring just 1.05 out of 10 when it came to spending on items such as family benefits and education.