Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pro-European too and a big supporter of the European project and European integration, but like the Deputy I do not believe that necessarily means one cannot criticise the European Commission on occasion, and perhaps this is one of those occasions. I very much support the fact that we took the decision to adopt a common European approach. I was Taoiseach during the first wave of this pandemic and I remember what it was like when every individual country was competing with one another and struggling to get personal protective equipment, PPE, to protect staff and to get reagents, ventilators, swabbing kits and testing kits. I know that in that scenario, it is more likely that the big countries with the big buying power will do better. Had Ireland gone on its own on this occasion, we may have found ourselves at the back of the queue. I think we were right, therefore, to be part of a European approach. That does not mean we have not all along been exploring other avenues. We have been, and the Taoiseach has gone into some detail on that.

It is evident that we have a problem here. While Pfizer and Moderna are honouring their contractual commitments with the European Union, give or take a day or two or a few glitches, AstraZeneca has not and that is an enormous problem we are now facing. I am seeking explanations too because I can understand how AstraZeneca might run into problems with supply, manufacturing or quality control, but I do not understand how this big successful company can honour its contracts with the United States and the United Kingdom but for some reason not honour its contractual commitments to the European Union. Thus far, the answers it has given are not satisfactory. The Government does not find them satisfactory and the European Union does not find them satisfactory either.

In terms of action that can be taken, there is provision for export bans. That is a European law and as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I have signed it into law in Ireland, although it does not arise here as no vaccines are being made in Ireland at the moment. The European Union and member states have the power to ban the export of AstraZeneca vaccines and Italy has been the first to do exactly that. We are, of course, ramping up manufacturing supply to the extent that we can, but bear in mind there is not a huge amount of spare manufacturing capacity in Europe. Plants that manufacture medicines and vaccines are already manufacturing medicines and vaccines, and we cannot stop manufacturing life-saving medicines that we need now. That needs to continue, but all those things are being explored. Even from my Department, €100 million is available in state aid for companies that want to scale up and manufacture Covid-related products, whether PPE, testing kits or vaccines, as the case may be.

See this speech in context