Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

For the information of the committee and the witnesses, it is on our work programme before the end of the year to bring NBI back before the committee for an update. We will leave that in the capable hands of the clerk as regards a date for that, but the intention is to do that.

May I ask one question of you, Dr. McCabe, about the uptake of technology? I note what Deputy Ó Cuív said earlier, but there is still a hesitancy in using technology initially. When people see the benefit, absolutely they will use it, but it is a matter of getting over that threshold in the first place. In the engagement you have had already with the community on Clare Island, what do you see as the biggest challenges in that regard, or what are coming across as the biggest barriers to the adoption of digital health for the community with which you are engaging? We all believe that the learnings from Clare Island can be applied right across the country. My one concern is that there will be a time lag between the delivery of the infrastructure, the development of the technology and the actual practical application of that in communities. We need to truncate that aspect. The Clare Island project is vital in truncating that gap between the technology being delivered in software and hardware and its actual practical implementation and application in communities across the country.