Dáil debates

Thursday, 19 May 2022

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Covid-19 Pandemic

9:40 am

Photo of Damien EnglishDamien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not at that committee but will be happy to read back over the submissions on that. I have not had a chance to get a sense of what is being put forward. Much of the debate on this, including the debates we had in these Houses, focused on supply. The EU always took the position that that would not necessarily be the issue and there were many other parts of it, including the capacity of those countries to administer the vaccine and the demand. It is clear now that supply is not the issue and the EU was right. The Deputies will all disagree but the facts are there. The supply of vaccine is up to the level required.

Compromise proposals are being put forward at the WTO. It is not just Europe. It is the WTO. Europe is one player and has led on this in relation to distribution and exportation. Others might have to question themselves on that outside the EU, but the EU has played its part. The compromise text will be beneficial and will help with that. It has been worked on since last autumn. The Government has supported it and it is now informally in those trade talks. I think a meeting is scheduled for the end of this month or early June to try to arrive at a formal decision, which I think will be positive.

We have to continue to support access to manufacture and production, as well as investment in the systems in these countries to be able to administer the vaccine. Healthcare workers, logistics, information-sharing and demand for vaccines are all part of it. I do not agree that the EU has held this back. The EU is part of the world trade talks.

The Government did not oppose the Seanad motion. There was agreement on everyone's intention but there is more than one way to achieve it. The discussion I heard always focused on supply being the issue, but it is not necessarily the supply.

I turn to the issue of the investment of public money. Much work at our level and European level is to recognise the importance of giving greater access to vaccines and to protect our IP regime now and for the future. We talk about public money invested in bringing forward the vaccines quickly, and I have always acknowledged the massive public investment all over the world, but that was combined with massive private investment for many years before that. The vaccines used have involved a combination of new research with investment and development over many years. We want to continue that investment.

I have had debates in this House over many years on investment in research and development. A few Members believe that should all be done by public money. That does not get the best results or lead to the best development of potential medical interventions, solutions, drugs and so on. We need the blend and combination of private and public money to achieve greater impact. That is not acknowledged by some contributors here, and I accept that. We differ and believe it is important to have a right model that encourages private investment as well as public to get the best products developed for people.

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