Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 269: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the role played by her Department in relation to the conclusion of a contract between the Health Service Executive and iSOFT; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35553/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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Under the Health Act 2004, expenditure on ICT is included in the Vote of the Health Service Executive, Vote 40. Such expenditure must be approved by the Department of Finance. The Health Service Executive approached the Department of Finance for approval with regard to an electronic patient information system earlier this year. As the original proposal for such a system had been made some years previously to my Department for a number of health boards and the proposal in 2005 was for the whole health system, my Department sought the advice of the Attorney General to ensure that the contract conformed to EU procurement rules and would withstand any legal challenge. The Attorney General was satisfied that the proposal conformed with EU procurement rules and had a sound legal basis.

This information was conveyed to the Department of Finance by my Department on Friday, 29 April and I am advised that the Department of Finance gave oral approval to the proposed contract, subject to a number of conditions. I understand that the contract was signed the following day. The Department of the Taoiseach had no substantive involvement in the process. That Department, on request, did ask the Office of the Attorney General if the provision of the legal advice awaited by the Health Service Executive could be expedited. At the time of making that request, it was not briefed on the specifics of the advice being sought or on any other aspects of the transaction. It only knew that a legal advice was required urgently.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 270: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the reason her Department confined the implementation of the iSOFT contract to the areas previously covered by the North Eastern Health Board and the North Western Health Board even though the supplier was selected on the basis of a national deployment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35558/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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My Department did not confine implementation of the iSOFT contract to the areas previously covered by the North Eastern and North Western Health Boards. The Health Service Executive designated the north-eastern and north-western areas as the priority sites for deployment of new IT systems because support contracts on their existing systems were coming to an end and could not be extended. If urgent action was not taken by the Health Service Executive, it would have resulted in significant additional expenditure and would have put the ability of the hospitals to function at risk as the admission, discharge or transfer of patients would have to be done manually. When the Health Service Executive submitted its proposals regarding the iSOFT contract to the Department of Finance, CMOD, it flagged these two areas as needing special urgent attention, involving the deployment of the current version of iSOFT on time before the existing support contracts expired.

The Health Service Executive's proposal is to deploy a standard version of the iSOFT system across all its hospitals. It took delivery of iSOFT's current version of the software in May 2005 for deployment in the north-eastern and north-western areas. The Health Service Executive has received approval from the Department of Finance for the current version to be implemented in Tullamore General Hospital. These projects are under way and the system will go live in those areas by mid-2006. In January 2006, the Health Service Executive will take delivery of the version of the iSOFT system that will be used as the national standard, incorporating developments that iSOFT has contractually committed to provide. This new version of the system — Lorenzo — is based on developments made to the existing versions of the system currently being used. This system will be deployed on a pilot basis in St. Luke's Hospital, Kilkenny, with an expected go-live date in early 2007. This standard system will then be rolled out across all hospitals and, in due course, will replace the interim systems supplied to the north-eastern and north-western areas.