Colm Burke (Fine Gael)
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I thank everyone who made presentations this morning, as they were highly informative. The Marymount hospice has opened in Cork this year and an additional 20 beds are being provided there. I understand the facility is recruiting an additional 36 staff and hopefully they are about to come on-stream, which would be welcome. I am a little concerned about the three areas in the country without hospice facilities or beds and they certainly should not be obliged to wait the 20 years it has taken for the expansion in Cork to take place. This matter must be prioritised. I have a concern regarding the national strategy that pertains to families. On foot of the number of people who have left the country, many people no longer have children who live in Ireland and there must be careful planning for this issue in that present levels of support may well not be in place in ten or 15 years' time. It is an issue that underpins the importance of putting in place a national strategy in this area.

A number of speakers have touched on the legal issues and as someone who has been practising for more that 25 years, I am a little concerned about the lack of extant knowledge about the legal process. Even simple matters arise, such as people who have made wills failing to advise the executors that they have been made. This is amazing. Similarly, trying to get people to create an enduring power of attorney is extremely difficult and I agree with Ms Patricia Rickard-Clarke's point when she spoke about buying a house and getting all those things in place at the same time. It is something that must be done and this is about disseminating information. I seek the witnesses' views on how they would approach getting across such a message. Should it be a joint approach from a number of Departments and Government agencies, or how do they envisage it happening?

Another issue that concerns me greatly is the level of litigation now arising regarding the administration of estates for which wills are made. I have found an increasing level of litigation where wills exist and one reason for this is the tendency of courts to allow costs for such litigation to be drawn from the estate of the deceased. In cases in which people have a fairly frivolous claim against the estate, they will lose their action but their costs still are paid from out of the estate. There is a message from this that must be dealt with because, speaking as someone who is operating in a legal capacity, I find amazing the reluctance of the courts to release moneys for the benefit of the person while at the same time, a great deal of those moneys are being used up in litigation afterwards. Perhaps there should be a discussion paper on how restrictive are the courts with regard to releasing moneys where people require care. This must be tackled and there is a present need to disseminate an information package in this regard. As the relevant information is not out there, what are the witnesses' views as to how this should be approached?