Mr. Bernard O'Regan:

I can confirm that people with lived experience of disability will be members of the steering committee. All of the committees that we are establishing in the area of disability are seeking to include people. That is reflected in other work we have going on and this will be no different. We see it as a critical thing to do in order to ensure that we co-produce the right answers and supports for people.

As regards what is happening to improve access to primary care, there is substantial investment in the development of primary care services in the national service plan this year. That will lead to the recruitment of about 2,000 additional therapists and staff as part of the enhanced community care, ECC, reform programme, which is also about developing community health networks. The growth of that primary care service should also have a beneficial impact for people in nursing homes on the basis that they have the same right of access to those services as every other citizen.

A question came up earlier about making information available to the committee. I will provide the information that we have available, as current as it is, both on a national basis and by county where we have that. The only proviso I would put on it, to which the Ombudsman and others referred earlier, is that the data we have at the moment are primarily based on the NHSS data. Until we complete the data gathering and the survey, we will have a gap in terms of knowing whether that is the full number.