Francis Noel Duffy (Dublin South West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the briefing. It has been very informative. My question has been covered to an extent. It is has to do with vaccines. President von der Leyen has mentioned the EU's priority to increase global vaccine access. She speaks of the contributions and donations that EU member states have made to assist least-developed countries with their vaccine roll-out. As we know, Ireland has donated more than 1 million vaccines, which is commendable and worth noting. The TRIPS waiver was also mentioned. It sounds like it is not going anywhere. Perhaps it is very difficult to open it up to developing countries and give them the patents for the vaccines. Will Ms Nolan give us an update on this? Somebody will pay for them and we will then send them over. Why are we not just allowing them to process the vaccine themselves? It would be cheaper all around.