Mr. Oliver O'Connor:

I will clarify a few points. On the broader point, I have been the chief executive of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association since January 2015 and in that time we have never issued a statement that resists Government policy on corporation tax at 12.5% and so on. We work with the Government in that respect and we have not been resisters in that sense. We have always worked closely with the Government to encourage investment in the country and successfully so. I am sure that goes for our colleagues in BioPharmaChem Ireland.

On the question about specific actions and instances, I am not briefed on that and I do not have responsibility in this area. I cannot answer for the actions of particular companies here today. I would say that some companies have invested large amounts of their capital that they raised, which was not in their plans two and a half years ago. If it is the case that the rules or the environment changes where the entirety of that investment and the entirely of their manufacturing capability to deliver medicines and vaccines globally in this respect is to be shared and given for nothing then one has to consider the following. If that is what the public authorities want then that is fine and it is a policy that one can choose. However, if we were running the circumstance again, and there is no doubt that there will be another pandemic at some point, can one expect those companies to engage in the same type and level of investment with their capital at risk if they have the level of uncertainty about the intellectual property rights that will govern that investment after it is done? That is simply the question that we would ask the committee and the Government to consider. Our answer is clearly "No". We believe that there would be a diminution, to put it in the most neutral word, in the capacity and willingness of companies to make the investment and make their processes available for anyone else around the world to take. That is our position.