Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Higgins. I have one final question and then I will go back to each person for a final comment. I am conscious that we have kept the witnesses for more than two hours. I thank all of the witnesses. This has been a really fascinating and important discussion.

I want to come back to how we get to the implementation of those key recommendations that we are talking about, and particularly the recommendations Nos. 4 to 12. The witnesses have really identified the difficulty with the definitions of care and the fact that many people who are providing care do not identify as carers. Presumably, many of those whose voices are less heard, those who are receiving care, also do not define themselves as receiving care. That is also a consideration. It is very useful for us to hear this when we are grappling with how to implement these recommendations.

I wish to raise two specific issues. There are two processes we have discussed that may assist in the implementation of recommendations and I wish to hear the witnesses' views on those. The first is the national planning unit for care, which was recommended by Professor Lynch, as a way of achieving the delivery of the outcomes the Citizens' Assembly wanted. How important would that be? I would like a view from all of the witnesses on that.

The second process, as referred to by Ms Duffy, is the statutory register of family carers, which the Commissions on Pensions recommended. We are mindful that the assembly was very keen to ensure that pensions solutions would be developed by the State for carers. What are the witnesses' views on those specific points about how we would achieve the implementation of those recommendations? What are the best ways to do it? Clearly, a planning unit would seem to me to be a sensible approach, and that statutory register of family carers. Are those ways we can get around the difficulties of identifying carers and those who are cared for, and with gathering the data that all of the witnesses have described as being highly problematic? We will go first to Ms Duffy and Mr. Dunne, and then to Ms Hughes and Professor Lynch.