Ms Zoe Hughes:

I will not comment on the financial aspects. I will let my colleagues do that. On the recognition of family, it is important that we start to view families in this situation as families of choice as well as families of origin. There is a difficulty with the term "family care", which is what we tend to use in Ireland, as opposed to unpaid care or informal care. A lot of family carers in Ireland say there is nothing informal about the care they provide. It is not a particularly well-liked term, or at least it was not in research we did in previous years. That is why we are very much in favour of expanding the idea of family to family of choice, friends and neighbours. It is a lot more community-based than purely just family of origin.