Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At the recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, we heard from Médecins Sans Frontières, Oxfam and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. We also had a significant number of written submissions on the TRIPS issue. We learned that only 13% of people are double vaccinated in low- and middle-income countries and 1% boosted. We face a significant global problem. If we believe the mantra that nobody is safe until everybody is safe, then we must act urgently. If we fail to act now, we will not be as prepared for the next pandemic or outbreak and low- and middle-income countries will be left behind again. The pharmaceutical companies which attended the meeting focused on the need to invest but representatives from Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxfam were clear that, given much of the investment has been through public funding, it is the global public who should be the beneficiaries. The HIV-AIDS epidemic showed us the way. There was no significant progress until medicines were made freely available. Millions of lives were saved by ending the lack of access.

I wrote to the Tánaiste yesterday in my capacity as chair of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment with the committee's full support to ask him to support a TRIPS waiver. Will he commit to doing that?

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