Nicole Ryan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. We in Sinn Féin support this Bill. We support it because digital health records are not optional, they are fundamental to patient safety, accountability and the delivery of a modern health service. Accessible, integrated patient records are at the core of enabling better healthcare outcomes.

However, supporting the Bill does not mean ignoring the context in which it arrived, because it is now 2026 and the Government is only reaching the starting gate for a digital transformation of the health service. We see this failure constantly in our work. As legislators, we table parliamentary questions and are told - sometimes time and time again - that the HSE perhaps does not capture the data; sometimes it does not hold the data; or that the systems are simply not there. That can be frustrating.

What is being proposed is important but it is not the full electronic record system. It is limited in what it can do. We still do not have a fully integrated financial management system across the health service. As the Minister mentioned in her opening statement, waiting lists remain fragmented. The Minister is aware that data is powerful. When clinicians have access to accurate shared information, it provides for quick decision-making and patient outcomes. When data is not collected and not shared or not trusted, the entire system suffers. It makes no sense that GPs, community services and hospitals cannot fully integrate patient care, access complete records or see the whole picture of a person's health needs. Clinicians have consistently told us that a lack of access means delays in diagnosis and treatment for people and sometimes things are missed altogether. That is why electronic health records are very transformative.

Primary care and community care are also significantly behind in some areas. Despite the commitments, progress in recent years has been very slow. I will ask the Minister two questions to clarify the position. She might not be able to answer them today but we can hash it out on Committee Stage. I assume there is going to be a concrete, funded plan for integration and perhaps a potential timeline for when the Minister expects it to happen. How will community providers, specifically GPs, be supported to connect and integrate into the system, especially in very remote areas? I think, for instance, of Carna in Connemara, where the infrastructure is rural, the Internet may not be fully there or it is not really accessible. All those kinds of things can be hashed out.We also need to move beyond the fear that has paralysed progress for years, which is that past failures cannot be excuses for permanent inaction. Other countries have learned and moved forward, and Ireland has stalled, and patients have paid the price as a result. We welcome this legislation because it is a great starting point. However, it is not the whole success story. I know the Minister is going to be working towards that, and we will all work with her in this House to achieve that. As the Minister knows, patients, clinicians and communities deserve a health service that is modern, connected, safe, accountable and that does actually have the potential to really save lives properly.