Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will dwell on that for a moment.

Caring responsibilities wax and wane over a person's lifetime. We are talking about a 20-year period here. It could be that the person being cared for has a period of good health or a period of worsening health. How are we keeping track of that over such a long period? How can it be meaningfully translated into this pension provision at the end of that time so that people do not feel trapped within that situation and, when the caring needs are less, are able to get out to work more without feeling they have stepped over that cliff edge? Similarly, the caring needs may increase. They can wax and wane over time. The person being cared for is not necessarily going to stay in exactly the same state of health or have exactly the same needs over a period of 20 years, which is what we are talking about. How do we envisage affording that flexibility in terms of accounting when we look at it over this 20-year period?