Mr. Seán Moynihan:

There is a slight principle that needs to be considered in some of this as well. For the fair deal scheme that means going into a nursing home, older people are making a contribution towards their care. Then, if that is being made a home care situation and possibly for people with disabilities, etc., we are creating a whole system and it possibly will end up being complex by the nature of trying to make it fair and equitable in the different situations people are in. Everybody's financial journey is very unique. Does that make sense? The challenge here is the principle for the 1,000 people who are aged under 65 and if they went home with enough home care, will they have to contribute to that? Is that what we are saying about healthcare in general? In some ways, it would be regressive. With regard to the people we are talking about and that we service, we are at 98% employment so the vast majority of people who will retire after 40 years of service to the State, working and contributing to taxes. We feel home care would probably be better paid for from taxation or a contribution and finding a way to fund it that way rather than a situation of means-testing at another end. As we said earlier, the Department of Social Protection has eight means-tested grants all with different criteria and hence we all get lost in them. Maybe those who need the grants most lose out because it gets too complex and people are resistant to apply for the grants at all.