Mr. Gerry Martin:

Significant work has been done in respect of the actual costs relating to the different types of care available. We are aware that long-term residential care costs in excess of €50,000 per person per annum. The point we are making is that a small fraction of this money - invested at the right time and in the right place - would give rise to an exponential benefit in terms of the total cost. If a person with dementia enters an acute setting - that could be a preventable situation - he or she will spend twice as long there as would an individual who does not have dementia. There are significant savings to be made if we can reconfigure the position and spend a fraction of what is being spent in expensive settings in the right place at the right time.