Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let us get the context clear here. The first point is that we are dealing with a virus that has killed people all over the world, and it continues to kill people.

Approximately 1.5 million people have died globally as a result of Covid-19. Governments themselves do not produce vaccines or medicines. There are no state pharmaceutical factories anywhere that I am aware of. Some states may have them but there may be dubious issues around that too. In this case, there has been a strong collaboration between Governments, whether the United States Government or the European Union, collectively, working with pharmaceutical companies with a view to researching, producing and developing a vaccine quickly relative to what would have happened in the past. It uses existing technologies developed over the years in many instances but parts of that package include pre-purchasing, to enable the financial wherewithal to fund the upfront costs of developing a vaccine, as well as the indemnity, which was important in making sure that we could go all-out to get this vaccine developed and procured. That is the context. On Deputy Naughten's point, the Government is working on a no-fault compensation scheme. As the Deputy is aware, a working group had been established for that. We are committed to bringing one in.

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