Ms Áine Flynn:

I quite agree. I reiterate the importance of carers not seeing themselves pitted against the Independent Living Movement Ireland and its support for this Act. We need to be very conscious of and continue to address that.

On fees, I do not have the specific numbers but we can share those as appropriate. We looked at best practice in other jurisdictions. We came up with numbers. Fees are largely to be set by regulations to be supplied by our parent Department. Looking at the service we will have to provide, we have recently come up with proposals to say, "What do you think of these numbers?" We will see what the feedback is on those. The directive to us has been that there is no perceived requirement that we are to be a self-funding service. Other comparable services in other jurisdictions are. In certain cases, we will provide an extensive, involved and lifelong service for people who may be high net worth individuals and it may be entirely appropriate that a certain cohort have to pay for some of our services.

Access and regional offices is an important consideration. We have all in the last 12 to 14 months had to think creatively around that and use virtual platforms. Is there a greater opportunity to reach out to ensure this is perceived as a State-wide solution? We are looking at the possibility, which is very much in its infancy, of having regional hubs or other offices. Where people cannot access us digitally, we are looking creatively at perhaps using the services and good offices of the Citizens Information Board, library services or whatever, so information is available through those channels.

I will not comment greatly on the 16 or 17-year-olds. They are identified otherwise as a separate cohort in legislation. In answer to an earlier question, however, it has not been part of the conversation here yet specifically on capacity legislation but it has certainly been the subject of comment and is something to watch with interest. We would have to be responsive to any changes that will come down the tracks as far as these younger people are concerned.