Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. I wanted to start with Mr. Tyndall anyway, if that is okay. I have two questions for Mr. Tyndall. I am very aware the discussion today centred around people who have engaged with the fair deal scheme. We do not have a sense, however, of the other people involved here. In the writing and compilation of this report the Ombudsman, Mr. Tyndall, probably has sense of who else is there. I am asking Mr. Tyndall for his opinion. Is it fair to say that the majority of people who are under 65 and who live in congregated settings are contained within that 1,300 or so persons or are we looking at the same number again of people who are self-funded?

One of the things pointed out in the Ombudsman's report is that the fair deal scheme offers a certain amount of care but it does not offer extra therapies, behavioural programmes or communication devices. What we heard today implies we will be living with some level of congregated setting. As people move out of those settings it is fantastic but we will be living with some of this type of care for quite a while. How much of a barrier to suitable care is that fair deal interaction for those people?