Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate what the Senator said. All colleagues have welcomed the fact that the carers' strategy is under way. We want to get it completed. It is also very much focused on the Towards 2016 agreement and the social partnership process. The Taoiseach's Department is chairing it and it is already sitting and examining the issues. The issues the Senator mentioned, and many more, are considered in the totality of the carers' strategy. My colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with special responsibility for children, Deputy Brendan Smith, is examining the issue as it relates to children caring for elderly people and we will facilitate him in that process. We are working on the overall national carers' strategy and we all look forward to seeing that in the middle of the year.