Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It was in fact this very issue that I wished to raise with the Minister. I refer to the computerisation. To give an example, I think four or five of the maternity units have become fully computerised but another 14 of those units have not. Can all this work in this area be fast-tracked now? The computerisation has worked in four or five of the units, so why can we not do it in all the remaining units of the 19 in total?

I accept what the Minister is telling us regarding several hundred million euro going into this work this year, but can we set out a clear programme through which we can try to achieve an end result where everything within the health service will be computerised? I remember raising this issue eight to ten years ago in the context of the Danish system, which dates back to 1996. That country ended up with about 25 different systems and now it is working down to having five systems. We have a long ways to go to even get down to 25 systems. I am wondering about the timescale in this regard and if we can set out a clear plan, whether that might be a three, four or five year plan. We should at least have targets in place and try to get this reform implemented.