Patient Files
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Neale Richmond (FG), Dublin Rathdown

I am grateful to the Deputy for the opportunity to update the House on the digitalisation of health records and the progress being made to support patients and healthcare professionals through safer, more connected care, stronger research and innovation and a more sustainable health service. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill.
As Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, I should highlight the success and the efficiencies of the digitisation of our passport service. Perhaps that is the exemplar of what can be achieved. It continues to go from success to success.
The programme for Government commits to the continued digitisation of Irish healthcare records and information systems, and significant progress is being made. For too long, important health information has been held in separate systems and on paper records, making it more difficult for information to move with the patient across care settings. Our objective is straightforward: information should follow the patient, not organisational boundaries. The Government's approach is set out in Digital for Care: A Digital Health Framework for Ireland 2024-2030. Supported by significant investment in digital health, we are moving from strategy to delivery through a phased programme designed to improve access to information, strengthen care delivery and modernise how health information is managed and shared.
Three national programmes are central to this work. First, the HSE health app is the patient-facing element of Ireland's digital health transformation. Since its launch in February 2025, it has attracted more than 250,000 registered users and provides access to a growing range of services and information, including appointments, referrals, waiting list information, vaccination records and digital health cards. I do not think there is a Member of this House or the Seanad who has not been personally pushed by the Minister to make sure they have it downloaded to their phone.
Second, the national shared care record is now a live national service across all six HSE health regions. It enables authorised healthcare professionals to securely access key patient information from multiple systems through a single shared view, supporting safer and more co-ordinated care.
Third, the national electronic health record programme will provide a comprehensive longitudinal digital record across publicly funded hospitals and community services. Government approved the preliminary business case in February 2026 and procurement is progressing. The programme will be managed through a series of regional deployments on a phased basis to mitigate risks and ensure lessons learned are incorporated throughout the programme, with all health regions live by 2032. As with major infrastructure investments, costs will be refined through a series of related procurements, with associated governance arrangements and approval processes in place to ensure value for money and appropriate oversight.
Alongside these programmes, the national electronic prescribing programme is progressing through procurement. The resulting electronic prescribing and dispensing service will result in safer, better care for patients, especially as they transition between healthcare settings.
The Health Information Bill, which passed into law earlier this year, provides the legal basis for the sharing of health information and the establishment of digital health records. Together with Digital for Care and the upcoming European health data space, EHDS, regulation, it establishes the framework needed to support more connected care and the responsible use of health information for both primary and secondary purposes. The EHDS regulation will create a common framework across Europe to support secure sharing of health information for direct patient-care-specific secondary uses such as research, innovation, public health and policy development and health service management. Importantly, secondary use of health data in this way continues to be protected under GDPR and this is further enhanced by the EHDS regulation.
Ultimately, our ambition is simple: that health information follows the patient wherever they receive care. By connecting people, healthcare professionals and services through trusted digital infrastructure, we can support safer care, better patient experiences, stronger research and a more sustainable health system. Better information supports better decisions, better care and, ultimately, better outcomes for patients. I am genuinely grateful to the Deputy for raising this and for continuing to be a strong advocate on this issue.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29