Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are now in public session sitting as the joint sub-committee on petitions. We have had a chance to deliberate on the five petitions before us today and will record our decisions in due course. The committee has received a total of 159 petitions to date since the launch of the petitions system. The secretariat has been examining them to establish admissibility of the petitions on how best to progress a petition for consideration. Some 140 of the 159 petitions received have been brought before the committee on at least one occasion. Of these 75 were considered, a decision agreed upon and closed, 44 were inadmissible and 40 are awaiting or still under consideration. A total of five petitions are before the committee today. The first petition No. P000082/12, secondary use of patient information and the risks of electronic health records, is in the name of Ms Norrie Neary. I invite Senator Susan O'Keeffe to record the decision of the committee.