Mr. Robert Watt:

I thank the Chair. I am delighted to talk about the draft instrument under the auspices of the WHO to strengthen pandemic preparedness. As the Chair mentioned, I am joined by Dr. Collette Bonner and Mr. Joe Hanly from the Department, who will be able to answer questions inasmuch as they can, given that negotiations are still ongoing. We will do our best to assist the committee in any way we can.

Arising from the pandemic, agreement was reached at the second special session of the WHA, World Health Assembly, to begin the process of negotiating a convention, agreement, or other international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, commonly known as the pandemic agreement. The session also agreed to further strengthen the international health regulations through a series of targeted IHR amendments aimed at strengthening global health emergency response and operationalising equity in relation to same. The IHR are a long-standing set of regulations first adopted in 1969 and have been revised on several occasions. The aim of the IHR is to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with, and restricted to, public health risks and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traffic and trade.

At the outset I should say that the pandemic agreement is a member state-led process, driven by the member states. Any decision as to whether to ratify the agreement will be a matter for individual member states alone to decide. It is important also to point out that, as currently drafted, this agreement presents no loss of sovereignty, based on our opinion, to Ireland or to other countries which are involved in this negotiation process. Specifically, any decisions in relation to actions, such as quarantines or travel restrictions or any such measures that may be taken in the context of a future pandemic, are decisions the Irish Government with the support of the Irish Parliament, as necessary through laws or instruments, will be required to take.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the global disparity in access to necessary medical products and vastly different levels of national health system response capacity were made apparent. As mentioned, the WHA acknowledged the need to address gaps in prevention, preparedness and response to health emergencies, including in the development and distribution of, and unhindered timely and equitable access to, medical countermeasures such as vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, as well as strengthening health systems and their resilience, with a view to achieving universal health coverage. This new instrument is intended to have a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, prioritising the need for equity in a global health emergency response and stressing that member states should be guided in their efforts to develop such an instrument by the principle of solidarity with all peoples and countries, which should comprise practical actions to deal with both the causes and consequences of future pandemics.

An intergovernmental negotiating body, INB, was established and met for the first time on 24 February 2022. The INB has met nine times to date to progress work on the drafting of this agreement. Officials from the Department are attending talks from 29 April to 10 May. A progress report was delivered in May 2023 and the ambition is that the pandemic agreement will be presented to the 77th WHA for adoption at the end of this month. It is important to note that adoption does not mean Ireland accepts the agreement. Any international agreement will be subject to Government approval before ratification.

The pandemic agreement contains measures on prevention, surveillance, One Health which includes human, animal and environmental health, protection of health workers, encouraging collaborative research and development, diversification of production and sharing of technology, a new pathogen access and benefit sharing system and a financing mechanism to assist state parties, in particular developing countries, in improving their domestic health surveillance and prevention systems. If members wish to see more detail, the draft text being drafted is publicly available on the WHO website and I believe it has been circulated to member of its committee for consideration.

It is fair to say that discussions on this agreement have been difficult, not least because of the whole range of provisions that are included but also because of the constrained political and financial environment in which many countries find themselves. Despite this, the EU and departmental officials continue to work hard towards achieving a positive result that will strengthen global health systems and pandemic preparedness, noting that no one is safe until everyone is safe.

If members have any specific questions they wish to raise, we are very happy to seek to answer them, having regard to the fact that negotiations are ongoing and the agreement is still subject to change. We are very much available to keep committee members up to date over the coming weeks as the process is coming to an end. I presume an agreement will be put to the Government for ratification.