Mr. Joe Hanly:

There are two stages. It is scheduled to be completed this Friday. The signals are that it will be a long night on Friday. That is what I am hearing from the team. They have no plans to go beyond that. The pandemic agreement text, or at least the negotiations on it, will be finalised late this Friday night or early Saturday morning. Then the bureau has to tidy up that text and translate it into seven languages for circulation to the membership before the WHA. On Thursday and Friday next week, 16 and 17 May, there will be the final session on international health regulations. They are related but separate. They will be brought for adoption at the WHA. Following adoption at the WHA, there is a process of about 13 months where member states then have to go back to using the parliamentary procedures within their countries to get them ratified. In the same way as this, it will initially be an exercise of the executive powers of Government, because it is an international agreement, but because of the financial implications and the continuing cost implication for the State, it will have to come before the Dáil subsequent to that before it can be finally ratified.