Dr. Ciara Fitzpatrick:

All of that is so important. Absolutely, it will be part of the discussions. The people who are involved in the All-Island Social Security Network bring expertise from all areas of the social security system. It is important that we examine all aspects of it.

I share the Deputy's frustration with the carer's allowance in the northern system and how ineffective it is at supporting carers; how it completely overlooks their role and how they save the State billions every year on the cost of care. I sit on a care commission in Northern Ireland at the moment, which is seeking to look at better solutions for carers. I do take the point that it may not lie in social protection, however, on the other side of the coin it may confuse payments even further in terms of the many entitlements that are available. That is one of the many complexities of the social security system, and something that the All-Island Social Security Group and others would like to unpick together. There is such a complex web of provision in Northern Ireland across housing, health and social care, and the NHS, and there are no direct comparisons in some areas in the South. There is a lot to get your head around. It is a very complex system. Disability benefits and carer's allowance is on the agenda. It is so important.

Disability benefits in the North, again, are completely lacking in humanity. The assessments that people have to go through are carried out by contracted companies. They throw people into huge amounts of stress, anxiety, and hardship. The whole system has to go through wholesale change. From a very personal perspective, the thought of developing, as Dr. Boland very eloquently put it at the end of his statement, a leading welfare state, is hugely hopeful for me as somebody who is experiencing a hugely punitive rule and heartless system in the North every single day and hearing stories from the people who are subject to it.