Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

The time for the Minister to ask questions about whether this is something we should do, or to say that we could do it or not do it but he has concerns, is over. He has responsibility in this matter as Minister. The EU is blocking the suspension of the waiver. The EU, by refusing to take on the big pharmaceutical companies, is blocking the vaccine from being used across the globe. It might be 2024 or later by the time we have global vaccination. These vaccines were developed in large part through more than €5 billion of public money. Ms Winnie Byanyima of the UN told an Oireachtas committee this week that big pharma is protecting its monopolies, technology and intellectual property and thus restricting production of Covid vaccines. That is criminal. It is immoral and it is also a health danger to people in this country as well as around the world. Has the Minister discussed this with the other health ministers? Has he raised it at all with his EU counterparts? As things stand, the EU is going to stand with some other major countries in blocking the waiver and blocking access to the vaccine for most people in the world.

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