Ms Patricia Rickard-Clarke:

To deal with the question of accountability of the safeguarding body, the Law Reform Commission in its principles has accountability for organisations, people and individuals across the board. It specifically provides that the safeguarding body and its authorised officers who take action or intervention under the adult safeguarding legislation are accountable and answerable for their actions and interventions. We believe, because it is interagency and interdepartmental, that the body should report to an Oireachtas committee rather than a particular Minister because it is across the board. We are very clear there is a huge void with regard to abuse in the community. People do not realise these problems are there. With emigration now, these problems are increasing all the time. Our demographics are such that the percentage of older people is increasing significantly. There is no data and no documentation, there is nobody to deal with it and nobody is accountable.