Ms Patricia Rickard-Clarke:

It is a 1,000-page report. We met with the commission a number of times. The emphasis on the multidisciplinary issue is important. Even if it is led by social workers - and they are a very important cohort in the whole care arrangement - we need forensic accountants and other people with expertise in serious issues. There are questions of homeless people, human trafficking and so on. I do not think there is a realisation these are very serious issues happening in society. There is no data collected.

The commission highlighted the Department of Social Protection but did not go into detail. This year €25 billion will be spent by that Department on disability, State pensions and all of that. There is no clear oversight of those payments. We had the man who lived to 110 or whatever and his pension was being collected on an ongoing basis. In England, they have the Department for Work and Pensions and when a person is appointed an agent to collect a pension, there is an interview with the beneficiary and an interview with the prospective agent. Here, when you reach 67 years of age and get the State pension, you give the Department your bank details and it is logged with no oversight or check-up. We want the banks to follow up on that, as well as the Department. The Department has been reviewing its agency arrangement since 2017 but it has not yet been finalised.

To answer the Cathaoirleach's question on the Law Reform Commission report, it is a comprehensive body of work. Some parts need further drilling down. One thing we disagree with is the suggestion of setting up, on an interim basis, the authority under the HSE. We feel that involves a huge conflict of interest and does not comply with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, among other reasons. Complaints would go to that HSE body, which is not equipped to deal with them and does not have the expertise or statutory role to deal with them.