John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael)

As I have said, the electronic health record is going to be critical in the time ahead to ensure that not just children but patients right across the health system have optimised care to ensure better clinical outcomes. It will allow us to ensure that, no matter where a patient is within the country or, as the Senator suggested, across the European Union, we will have that information. I take on board the Senator's points regarding communication, which I will take back to the Minister for Health. The best way to go about this is to capture children as they are being born and to build the system over time while retrofitting the existing system, in the hope it will all come together at a particular point. Significant work is ongoing in this particular area and it is going to be a critical part of our health system.