Ms Kathleen O'Meara:

It is possibly confusing the issue. When we consider, on the one hand, the individual who has a disability as having equal rights as a citizen and on the other hand we consider carers' needs they are two separate issues. I am not sure that the same service provider can meet the needs correctly. It is almost a divided loyalty in some ways. One is either trying to support the individual who has a disability and separately to support the carers who have needs. These two aspects need to be kept very separate for the purposes of clarity.