Dr. Avril Kennan:

In some ways, it is not our place to speak to technical solutions. There are many people out there who can answer those questions. What we can say, however, is that this is being done across the world, so there are technical solutions. The advantage of being a bit behind, as we are in Ireland, is that we can look to those other examples and not make the same mistakes that others have made. Ms McCormack and I have experience of working with patient registries, which are another really important part of this picture. She may wish to speak to that. Interoperability is the key in that regard. It is about allowing centres to hold onto their own data and keep them safe but, through trusted third parties and safe havens, having the ability to bring those data together to be analysed by researchers. The key thing is that, regardless of how we do it - that is just the technical side and there are always solutions - it is about the willingness to get on board. As Dr. White stated, there will be a difficult time ahead when the paper records have to be put online. That will create a significant amount of work but it has to happen and people have to get on board with it.