Ms Clare Duffy:

I will answer the first question about carers. The Deputy's question refers to two different cohorts of carers. The first is the cohort that I represent, which is unpaid family carers. The CSO tells us that about 70% of unpaid family carers also juggle their caring responsibilities with paid employment. It is important that we recognise that. I should have said in my opening statement that the best way to secure a pension in retirement is to keep people engaged in the labour market and to support them to remain in employment. That is a significant challenge for family carers who often provide full-time care as well as trying to work. We need things like tax incentives and tax reliefs in the same way that we need childcare for parents like me who want to go out to work. We need to have respite to enable carers to engage in the workforce. It is an important point to make. We need to incentivise carers to remain in employment so that they get their pension in the same way that anyone else will.

I am glad that the Deputy referred to the second cohort of workers. They are home care workers and staff who are paid by the HSE or employed by people like us, who provide home care services. We have a substantial staff shortage and a crisis in home care. In recent years, funding for home care has no longer been the issue. The issue is securing home care staff. There are many reasons. One reason for this shortage is the poor terms and conditions associated with home care work and the lack of a pension entitlement for those workers is a significant issue. There are things that we need to think about and address for unpaid family carers and also for the paid home care workers who support the industry. There is a shortage at the moment.