Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Most of the questions I had have been put forward. I am very interested in this paper and presentation. The witnesses have an incredibly difficult job. In a previous life I used to manage large integration IT projects, so I can share their pain at times. Much of the pain is not due to IT. Sometimes it relates to the decision-making and the process. Leaders are very important in projects that are going to take this length of time to implement. Historically, if we consider many of the integration projects that have been done in this country, and they are very well known from the media given the volume of funding that has been put into them, there has been a loss of critical leadership at certain points. Effectively, many of the people, including the witnesses at the top of tree, are single points of possible failure.

Is there a process for managing that, particularly as people move on all the time?

The second issue is technology use. Deputy Brassil stated that everything moves and that changes take place every year. That is the case. It changes every month at this stage. Obviously, from an IP point of view, I presume open source is being managed in a way that allows continuity rather than technological single points of failure. I presume there is a methodology for doing that and we do not get locked in with any supplier to the point where we cannot get out. I remember being involved in the launch of the Leap Card in respect of which there was a process whereby technology partners were locked in and it caused significant delays.

I am a huge supporter of the public service card. That is a massive project. At what stage is the HSE in its conversation with the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Social Protection, both of which are involved with that project? I presume it is on a continuous basis and Mr. Corbridge might let us know whether that is the position.

I am delighted to hear about eHealth Ireland. I knew a little about it but not enough. How does Mr. Corbridge find stakeholder engagement in this regard and is everyone covered? From a buy-in point of view, this is a necessity not only among technology partners but across government?

I will not begin to discuss medical devices because a lengthy conversation is required in that regard. The IT projects that are being done within the Department of Health and the data management system are integrated but they also separate. We spoke earlier with Dr. Stephen Kinsella, who made a good presentation. There is an overlap in respect of some of the aspects here. I refer to consistency in data, the processes for managing data and the back-end database. The quality of data is essential. As stated earlier, there is a phrase which goes "dumb data in, dumb data out". In the context of the process for managing data - the differential regarding the management of it from the top down - the IT aspect is one issue. Obviously, it is ever-changing. However, it is about ensuring that there are standards as regards data input because all the technology in the world is irrelevant if the data are not being input correctly. I accept that they must come together but I presume they are managed throughout the network down to the very lowest level separately. Those are my questions.