Rónán Mullen (Independent)

——and torture over the years in Northern Ireland.

The Joint Committee on Health and Children heard some interesting comments yesterday from the Carer's Association. Clare Duffy was pointing to the fact that there has been a massive under-reporting of the number of children under 18 who are caring for relatives. It is probably not something we think about much and when we do we probably think there is much good in terms of the emotional maturity and compassion of the person but there is also the danger for young people in caring roles of lost opportunities in life and that their emotional growth could be damaged. It appears there are 28,000 such young children and we should be grateful to the Carer's Association for what they had to say but we should also note what the chief executive, Enda Egan, said in pointing out that this is not an issue on which there has been specific focus in our society, nor are there specific State supports for such carers. I ask for an early debate on that issue to allow us discuss it.

President McAleese is in China accompanied by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. I will conclude on this point. China is of huge value to this country. Trade is worth €4 billion. There are approximately 150 countries with trade links——