Ms Sharon Foley:

Because it would be a national system, it would have to be driven and owned by the HSE. We have been working to encourage and facilitate developments in ICT for many years. We are aware of the committee's most recent engagement. Progress has been very slow. What we need from the HSE is engagement and partnership, the use of tools we have already developed, such as the national medicinal product trial, as well as timelines, budgets and clarity on the key milestones so we can move to the next stage. As Mr. Twomey said, we are far behind some other countries. Estonia, for example, has brought in a whole new e-prescribing and e-health system.