Ms Anne O'Connor:

There are so many agencies. Nationally we have more than 1,000 agencies dealing with older people alone. In respect of disabilities there are more than 400. The challenge would be enormous. In terms of considering who would provide a service, the reality for us in the HSE is that the majority of our disability services are provided by funded agencies. We do not have an immediate alternative so it would be a very significant challenge if a strike were to go ahead or if agencies were to stop providing services because we do not provide that quantum of service ourselves.