Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

If possible, special attention should be given to that costing because there obviously will be a projected cost. I understand that these are proprietary ICT programmes so it would be possible to know how much it is going to cost by 2025. It is a pretty medium-term range so I expect there is a number out there somewhere. I will flag for the Minister of State that a core element of the roll-out of the digital services - I am under the impression it sits under the digital scheme - and of Sláintecare is e-health records. In the last few weeks, we have all come to the conclusion, which is certainly supported by the evidence of officials from the Department of Health who came before the Oireachtas committee, that, because of an intervention on e-health from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, it is likely that e-health records will not be rolled-out in this country until 2032. That Department requires that a link to the children's hospital be included in the business case.

Will the Department look at e-health record services in light of the commitment to digital services and remove that link from the children's hospital to the business case for e-health records? This would possibly remove two to four years and bring the completion date down from 2032 to 2027.

See this speech in context