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

------to get these vaccines produced.

We are doing it. The EU is doing it. It has pledged €1 billion to increase manufacturing and production in Africa. It is co-operating with the WTO and the TRIPS initiative to get a sensible outcome around the expansion of production and facilitating equitable access. There were discussions around here at the beginning of the year about the lack of enhanced production within Europe itself. Europe set about getting its house in order and increased production significantly. We are now doing RNA substance development in Dublin, which is important.

Countries that know how to do this fast should do so faster. Some of those countries the Deputy is talking about were offered vaccines at cost price and refused at the beginning of the pandemic. There are leadership issues in some of these countries that we need to face up to.

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