Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is significant that this is the very last meeting of the joint committee but I would say, no matter who is in place in the next Dáil and Seanad, that this needs to be first on our agenda once again because Professor McCarron has the measurement tools. She mentioned the carers element and respite care, and I completely agree. We need to ensure that carers are valued. A colleague attended the family carers' conference on Tuesday morning. She came back and said that the one thing that she really took from it was that carers felt very devalued as people in terms of what they do for their loved ones, but they need that support and the respite care. Many families are just about coping and if they were able to get access to timely respite, that would make such a difference.

We are talking about people who are living with elderly parents, as Professor McCarron said. Many would be able to live independently within sheltered accommodation. We need to do better on that because it is a worry. It is a worry for my mum. It is a worry for so many mothers and dads.

I had questions but, to be honest with Professor McCarron, she has given us so many of the answers to the questions that we have not asked about what we need to do. Maybe I will ask about two issues that she might comment on: adult safeguarding in the population that she is talking about and, as we have come across in other presentations, the tendency to over-prescribe medication, which is a concern in congregated settings.

I thank the witnesses for all their work and hopefully we will have the opportunity to work together again.