92 Mr. Leonard asked the Minister for Health when a European health card will be introduced. [12235/97]

Limerick East): The concept of a European electronic medical record card is being piloted with the support of the European Commission in nine EU countries — Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Finland and Greece.

In Ireland, the Eastern Health Board card link project is operating in the Bray, County Wicklow area. The card stores three types of personal information — administrative — that is; name, address and contact person — medical history and prescription information.

In the European Union there remain a number of legal, ethical, economic and technical impediments to be addressed before the card could have general application. The Commission is continuing to support research-and-development and project work in the area of health cards and is also considering their use to the most appropriate application in the context of other means of network communication such as the World Wide Web.