Dáil debates

Wednesday, 26 January 2022

Post-European Council Meeting: Statements

 

4:02 pm

Photo of Thomas ByrneThomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the very important question of COVAX. It is always worthwhile remembering that nobody is getting everything right in this pandemic but with vaccine distribution around the world, the EU is getting much right. We are the biggest exporter and donor of vaccines around the world and we should be proud of that. As the Taoiseach said, we must do more, and all this is under consideration.

The Deputy is correct that COVAX has sounded the alarm in recent weeks about the availability of funds to cover so-called ancillary costs. As she said, this includes the cost of syringes, swabs, etc. Ireland was an early donor of ancillary costs and we added €1.5 million to our donations late last year to accompany the commitment to the dose donations. We have received private messages of thanks from COVAX for being an early mover in this regard, in contrast to a number of other countries that have not given this funding that is required to go along with vaccines. I am very proud of that and I am glad to be able to tell the House that. The matter was raised by Deputies Shanahan and Gannon, I believe, and other Deputies. It is very important. Deputies Cahill and Crowe have also mentioned it.

To date, we have provided €8.5 million to COVAX and in the coming week or so we will disburse another €5 million, bringing our total to €13.5 million. Ireland has a proud track record in this. We want to get the vaccines out there as quickly as possible and there is more we can do. A TRIPS waiver is definitely a potential part of the solution but there are other elements to consider as well. We can simply give vaccines to these countries but we can also build up manufacturing capacity to ensure that if intellectual property waivers are given, there can be capacity to manufacture these complicated products. That is all in the mix for what we believe the world should be doing. Ireland is to the forefront of advocacy in this regard and getting practical results for people across the world.

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