Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy Shortall on the importance of the reporting mechanism. I know we are talking about transference of power in the Bill. In my local authority at one time a person could not get an extension if that person lived in the middle of a terrace. If somebody had a stroke, the onus was then to transfer the family into an area where they might have known nobody or so on. There were all those sorts of difficulties. If a person was in a private house, a grant could be received for a mid-terrace property. It is important to have a system where people can see such a change. That has been going on for decades in that local authority and there are probably other examples as well. It is about capacity and saving money as well as everything else but it is also about the individual. The Minister of State is indicating the individual will be at the centre of this, and that is key.