Dr. Emer Begley:

I have a point on the fair deal, its funding and the associated model. I draw members' attention to the statutory home care scheme, which is ongoing in the HSE. DFI and others are members of the Home Care Coalition. Home care for disabled people is included within the statutory home care scheme, as are personal assistant services. However, the whole model is framed around care for older persons, so there is potential for us to head down the same path for home care as for the fair deal. There is ongoing work on this and a focus on the development of home care regulations. However, it would be interesting to see the HSE's plans for implementation and how things will look for disability services and disabled people, including in respect of the financing and funding model because there is talk of co-payment and paying out of pocket. There are considerations within that.