Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said an app allowing patients access to their medical records will be rolled out this year.
The app will enable basic and important information to be available on phones and be readily available to health staff, Mr Donnelly explained.
He said testing on this app started with several hundred maternity patients in the southeast of the country.
Mr Donnelly also added that a shared care system should be in place by the end of 2025.
This will be tendered by the end of year, he said, meaning everyone will have electronic access to their records.
Mr Donnelly told reporters that this will improve productivity and treatment.
"This means you can get access to help quicker.
"A full digital service across the country will take some years before it can be fully implemented so we are focusing on the first steps that can be put in place quicker and have the biggest impacts for patients and healthcare workers," he said.
Mr Donnelly added that healthcare staff said a lack of easy access to records is frustrating and makes their work more difficult.
The Minister for Health outline that eventually it will be possible for records to be shared "across the board" from GPs to the HSE and private hospitals.
The hacking of HSE systems showed that Ireland was exposed and was not digitally robust, according to Mr Donnelly.
He emphasised that safety and security for all of these proposals are paramount.
Mr Donnelly added that it was disappointing that some people were taking cases against the HSE following the hacking incident but said it is their right to do so.
DART project would double peak passenger numbers
The Cabinet has given approval for the DART+ Coastal North rail project to enter the planning phase.
Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan sought the backing for the proposal at this morning's Cabinet meeting.
"The Government's approval of DART+ Coastal North today marks another milestone in our commitment to develop sustainable public transport infrastructure for people and communities throughout the country," Minister Ryan said.
A planning application for the project will be submitted to An Bord Pleanála by July. Once approved, the project will take approximately three years to complete.
The DART line currently ends at Malahide but this major project would see it extended by 37km to Drogheda in Co Louth.
This would mean that passenger capacity between Malahide and Drogheda would almost double from approximately 4,800 people travelling at peak hour to 8,800.
It would give communities along the route, such as Clongriffin, Donabate, Balbriggan and Skerries, high-frequency and fully electrified DART trains.
Anne Graham CEO of the National Transport Authority said the expansion will be a "major improvement" to rail services between Dublin city and Drogheda.
"This project will be particularly beneficial to commuters living in growing areas such as Clongriffin and Donabate who will see more and better services as a result," she said.
Iarnród Éireann CEO Jim Meade also welcomed the Government’s approval for the project to enter the planning stage.
"DART+ Coastal North will have a significant beneficial impact on the quality of the service that we can provide on the route, increasing frequency, reliability and comfort for our passengers."
Housing uplift should be sustained
Separately, Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien will tell the Cabinet that 60% of all housing delivered in the last decade has occurred in the four-year period to end-March 2024.
There were 104,000 new homes built during that time and a further 11,568 homes which were either previously unfinished or were at least two years disconnected from the ESB network were added to the housing stock.
The memo going to Government notes that while it is too early in the year to accurately predict the final number new homes this year, the uplift of recent years should be sustained.
Additional reporting Mícheál Lehane
