Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To be blunt, I am concerned about the European initiative because it would not actually make a vaccine available to everybody. It would only be available to those countries participating in the initiative and that is not acceptable. We had an online conference with many actors, particularly in Africa and India, regarding the internationalising of this intellectual property and it is important that we take a worldwide view on this in order that every country and pharmaceutical company in the world can produce a vaccine once we have intellectual property on it. I had hoped the Minister would confirm that was also his view.

Deputy James Browne asked about dexamethasone. It was not quite clear from the Minister's response whether that drug is in use in Ireland now, as it is in the NHS for critically ill patients, a diminishing number of whom - thankfully - are now in intensive care.

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