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

It is probably fair to say that the ministerial decision was the outcome of extensive, detailed and politically sensitive negotiations which we have discussed here quite a lot over the past year. Ireland has always taken a prominent position on that within the EU. They hold the competency for this and we contribute to that. Our officials in Dublin, Brussels and Geneva are involved in a round of negotiations since that meeting nearly four and a half months ago in preparing for the next round, which is on 17 December, and we are feeding into that.

The EU is in the process of engaging with various stakeholders, conducting internal consultations and analysing available information to gain an understanding, and we are feeding into that as well. We have always had the view - we are clear from an Irish point of view - that we had to find the best way to get access to what was on offer while protecting the intellectual property, IP, as well. Deputy Paul Murphy and I differ on that. We believe that one must protect an IP regime to encourage more people to invest in that and to invest in future medicines and future therapeutics, and health services as well. If one does not have that regime right, one will lose out on that investment and everyone - developing countries or not - suffers.

We have been feeding in to try to find the best way. We have always made it clear that the opportunity to manufacture and access the infrastructure on the ground was important. We have made a lot of progress since the previous talks. The conversation has moved on and that is the part in which the EU is involved. The talks are politically sensitive and they involve many countries. The EU has been one of the leaders in this and we have made some progress since the previous talks. I will be able to update Deputy Murphy after the December meeting. I am afraid that is as far as we can go today.

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