Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We heard an important briefing today from Dóchas on the Horn of Africa crisis, where up to 20 million people could go hungry due to drought and the fallout from the brutal war on Ukraine. What additional aid will Ireland commit to the growing food crisis in the global south? How can we use our position on the UN Security Council to find solutions to the Russian embargo on Ukrainian grain exports, while being conscious that Russia is clearly weaponising food production in Ukraine?

I also wish to ask about our position on the TRIPS waiver, given that the WTO ministerial conference is taking place in Geneva now. I am conscious that Oxfam Ireland has urged the Tánaiste to use his position on the WTO's foreign affairs council to advocate for a full TRIPS waiver to facilitate the local production of Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests in lower- and middle-income countries. Will Ireland support a full TRIPS waiver to end global Covid-19 vaccine inequality? Will Ireland advocate this week at the WTO ministerial conference for the EU to support such a waiver?

In Ireland, 81% of people had two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, compared to only 14% of people in lower-income countries. Nearly 30,000 people worldwide have died every day from Covid since the TRIPS waiver was first proposed, the majority in low-income countries. I am conscious of the immense devastation Covid has caused here, with reports growing of long Covid and a lack of treatments for people suffering from it. However, I am also conscious, as all of us are, that the implications and impact have been so much worse from those who suffered from Covid in low-income countries without the same access to vaccines and treatments that we in the developed world and, in particular, in the EU have had. Can we support a full TRIPS waiver?

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