Mr. Gerry Kiely:

I thank Ms O'Connell and I thank the members for the questions, some of which Ms O'Connell has covered. On the vaccine not being available until 2022, I do not think that was an announcement by the Commission but rather somebody talking about something that was said by somebody from the Commission. Somebody heard someone else talking about something and so on. It is not a question of the Commission knowing the vaccine will be delayed or whatever. It is just the reality that if a vaccine is given the all-clear in the next weeks or whatever, and there are positive signs at the moment, it will take a long time to get up to speed in terms of producing the billions of doses that are needed. As I mentioned earlier, the Commission has already invested hundreds of millions of euro with a number of companies that are showing promise in terms of vaccine developments to ensure the availability of 800 million to 900 million doses. If they were all to come through, 800 million or 900 million doses have been contracted by the Commission for the EU. Also, the Commission has been to the forefront in terms of a global vaccine strategy. If somebody made this comment about 2022 it is purely a statement of fact. I do not believe anyone is disputing the fact that if and when a vaccine is available it will come piecemeal. Member states will have to decide on the priorities. Will it be front-line workers, people with underlying problems, etc.? The Commission has already put forward a paper on that in regard to its strategy on future vaccination. As we speak, some of my lords and masters at the Commission are holding a press conference to talk about the need to move forward in terms of preparing the infrastructure for vaccination etc. because we do not wait until the vaccine is approved to start setting up the system to deliver it.

On centralised purchasing capacity, in March or April the Commission established what we call framework contracts on personal protective equipment, PPE. All member states have access to purchasing the necessary PPE, ventilators or whatever under that. I am not aware of any shortages but we do not have a second wave at the moment. We are getting there but if the system was put under strain in the same way it was put under strain in the earlier months there might be shortages. I do not know. At the moment I am not aware of any shortages but I believe most member states are in a good position with regard to PPE. It may not be the same when it comes to more sophisticated equipment like ventilators, etc. but at the moment the framework contracts and the firepower is there through the European Commission and all member states have access to that.

In terms of deficits, that is under constant review and supervision through the Eurogroup and by the European Commission. We have what we call the semester reports under which the Commission produces a very detailed report on policies and developments in the member states every six months. It is under surveillance.

On the Multiannual Financial Framework, MFF, next generation EU and where we are on the negotiations, it is advanced but it is currently at the stage of trialogue. It always involves the Commission but the negotiations are primarily now between the Council and the Parliament with a view to reaching an agreement. Parliament is asking for some changes to the agreement which was done at the Heads of State level. The Heads of State are saying this is it. There is also the question of how to interpret the rule of law and how it will play. There is a certain degree of optimism in terms of a deadline, which is yesterday or as soon as possible. We need it in place both for the next generation and for the budget because programmes have to be drawn up. Theoretically, it should be implemented next year but it takes a long time for member states to draw up these programmes. We need it approved as soon as possible but there is a certain degree of optimism.

On the breakdown between grants and loans, on the next generation it is more or less 50-50. I believe the grants were €320 billion. Out of that, Ireland gets a little more than €1 billion.

That is down to the fact that the criteria, the key used in distributing the grants, were based on GDP over recent years, unemployment and population. Fortunately, Ireland has done very well on unemployment and GDP over recent years but, unfortunately, the result is that it does not get perhaps as big a share of these grants as would be hoped for.

On the loans side, it is the Commission that is borrowing with the backing of the EU. That is a lot of firepower, so I think the Commission will always get a better interest rate than Ireland, even though Ireland can get a very good rate at present. I think the last bond from the EU was subject to a negative interest rate. Perhaps Ireland will want to go its own way - I do not know - but it certainly will be somewhat attractive to Ireland and attractive to some other member states to borrow through Next Generation EU.

The traffic light system is not academic. It is very important to have such criteria to define regions as high-risk, low-risk, etc., but it is only one step in the whole process. As I said, some of the Commissioners are, I think, giving a press conference at the moment. Certainly, we are publishing material today from the European Commission on moving forward on a common approach on quarantine, more testing, faster testing, etc. The traffic light system fits into this mosaic and is a very important part of it but on its own does not solve anything. It is just one part of the process.