Dr. Mark White:

I thank the Deputy. The fact is that we only have pockets of data. Many researchers in Ireland, when they seek to look at a national picture, receive the same answers the Deputy receives to his parliamentary questions. It is very important for researchers to have access to national data. In the world of research, it is very difficult to prove or disprove something when one just has small or regional cohorts. What is needed is generalisability. One wants to be able to say a nation's health is affected by X, Y or Z. Having those joined-up data is very important because on publication of one's little pocket of data, the first criticism that comes from the scientific community in Europe and across the globe is that it is an interesting finding but it only happened in the south east of Ireland, within a private patient cohort or in a small cohort in the west of Ireland. Generalising the scientific findings of any research is very difficult without having these national databases and national access to people's records and health. It has an impact on us as European partners but it also has an impact on the scientific community across the globe.