Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their very informative statements and contributions so far. The discussion has probably progressed a bit but I have a question for Professor Lynch. She made the intervention at the beginning about commercialisation and how that alters the terms of the debate around care by defining it as a product and so on. Is that creeping commercialisation of care a kind of modern manifestation of the State's reluctance to provide and deliver fully integrated public health and social services that might have been developed elsewhere around Europe?

The following two questions could perhaps be taken by all witnesses. Mr. Dunne said census data are not entirely reliable. Do all the witnesses agree that the Central Statistics Office, CSO, needs to amend futures censuses to include a question that captures children who care? Would it be an idea for that to be supplemented by school surveys that are overseen by the Department of Education or relevant Departments and the CSO?

Ms Hughes might want to come in on my next question. I am interested in the homophobia that might be experienced by male carers, regardless of their sexuality, which is obviously an important clarification to make whenever we talk about homophobia. Where is that homophobia coming from? Is it coming from peers or is it in their work or from families? Those are all my questions.