Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 8, between lines 1 and 2, to insert the following:

9.—The Minister shall, within one month of the commencement of this Act, lay before each House of the Oireachtas, a report on the progress of the National Carers Strategy.

On amendment No. 24, I was disappointed the national carers' strategy was not published, as per the original commitment, by the end of 2007. There is little we can do about that now. I want to ensure it proceeds apace and that we have a strategy put before us without undue delay. I want the Minister to confirm to the House that everything is on the table in that regard and that there are no preclusions on any issue that any group wants to bring to the table in discussions in this regard.

On Committee Stage we debated briefly the issue of young carers. The Minister mentioned this issue has been transferred to the Department of Health and Children. He referred me to the Caring Before Their Time document published by Barnardos, which I looked at since we dealt with the matter last week. The point made in that document is that we do not want to look at young carers in isolation because they are caring as part of a family network or situation. In that sense, it is important the national carers' strategy, regardless of whether the Department of Health and Children will take the lead in the area, discusses and deals with the issue of young carers and recognises their role. The Barnardos document points out there is no national policy dedicated to young carers.

There is also a dearth of research in the area of young carers. While the Barnardos document is useful, it points out that there was no reliable research available to it, which is a difficulty. It stresses that a family approach is required and because of that, it would be wrong to exclude the issue of young carers from the national carers' strategy. I have no difficulty with the Department of Health and Children being the lead Department on this. I already mentioned the importance of involving the Department of Education and Science because young carers can miss out on educational opportunities by being in that position. It is very important the strategy includes the young carers issue.

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