Mr. Shane Gough:

That system is in Austria which is currently running a pilot scheme in the Laendar of Burgenland. The Deputy is absolutely right in that they set up the not-for-profit state company and they set up an employment relationship with carers. They also pay them at the rate of the minimum wage in Austria. There are other systems as well. Dr. Cullen has talked about Finland, the navigational agency piece, and the structural burden on carers. In Finland just in January 2023 they moved all of their social protection systems into what they call "well-being counties". The well-being counties are in charge of social protection, rescue services and hospital services for bigger regions under the municipalities.

They also provide a high level of informal carer's allowance but also a lot of the wraparound supports carers need and help in navigating the system, with much lower levels of structural burden than in other countries.