Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Several times in the past I have expressed my concern about wasting paper and the fact that we should be moving towards a paperless society. I draw the attention of the House to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for health in Britain, who today will announce an NHS development for making patients' records accessible to the patients. He reckons that this will save in the region of £5 billion in one year. Even better, it will save billions of hours of nurses' time because, instead of having to handle all the paperwork, they can retrieve something by touching a few buttons. Every citizen will be able to access his or her own records. Apparently in Europe only 4% of citizens can access their own records. The fact that Britain is moving in this direction is a reminder to us of what we could do if we were able to save even a fraction of that sort of money here. We are having great difficulty, for example, in deciding whether we can pay for new pharmaceutical techniques and inventions that will save lives, including for people with cystic fibrosis, because we do not have enough money. We can save that money if we move in this direction, but it needs enthusiasm and a Department of Health that will move in this direction. It also means that the Government as a whole could do the same. I have been critical of how slow we have been here to do away with paper and still it comes in.

I was concerned when I read in the newspaper today that there are only three people on the Food Safety Board. It advertised last March, almost 12 months ago, for other members and received applications but the jobs have not been filled. Food safety hit the headlines last week. Apparently, for the board to meet there must be a quorum of four people, yet there have been only three for the past year. I do not know how the system works but it seems to me there is a real need for the Minister in charge of that body, who I assume is the Minister for Health, to do something about filling the gaps and making sure that happens.

It seems to take so long. There is frustration for others looking at what happens in government when they see how long it takes to get things happening, and that is only one example. I have had my own frustrations with the Construction Contracts Bill, which we passed through the House two years ago and which, hopefully, will become law before Easter this year. However, it has taken so long and I do not understand why. I believe there should be two movements: one, to get rid of paper, to move to a paperless society and move into technology and, two, to recognise the importance of time when getting things done.