Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I wish to start with very sombre figures.

Our fellow human beings are behind the figures. As of today, Covid-19 has claimed 5.5 million people worldwide. It is an incredible statistic. Nearer to home, 150,000 people in Britain have died of Covid-19. On our island, 10,000 people have died, thus far, as a result of the pandemic. It has taken a terrible toll on those people, their families and society as a whole. There is hope; without it there will be despair. The pandemic continues to separate us in some ways, but also unites us and brings us together in other good ways.

This virus is universal and indiscriminate. Through science, we have found a vaccine that at least stops the ravages of this terrible disease and saves lives but, at the same time, we have a contradiction. While we have a vaccine, many people in this world cannot get access to it. Almost 40% of the world's population have not got a single vaccine. Even health workers in the developing world have not got access to this vaccine. It is quite extraordinary that in the circumstance of a world emergency countries cannot get access to vaccines because pharmaceutical companies have control over supply and intellectual property rights. Many people will ask if this is not the time to waive intellectual property rights, when is it?

As I said, the statistics are extraordinary. Even this week, Oxfam International stated: "Vaccines were meant to end ... [the] pandemic, yet rich ... [countries] allowed pharma billionaires...to cut off the supply to billions of people". Many people, through NGOs, religious organisations and civic organisations, are calling for a waiver to end the embargo on intellectual property rights to allow countries to make these vaccines. The argument is that countries in the developing world cannot make these vaccines, but they have the infrastructure in India and Africa. Factories where these vaccines can be mass produced are ready to go, but big pharma is not allowing that to happen and is allowing people to get the disease and die.

I do not know anybody who can stand over that. I do not think anybody in this Chamber could stand over it with a serious face, but that is the reality. Last December, a motion was passed in the Seanad calling on the Government to publicly call on the European Commission to support the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, TRIPS, waiver. The European Commission has failed to do so, even though two countries who are members of it, Italy and Portugal, have stated that they support the TRIPS waiver. I call on the Minister of State to use his influence, as a member of the Government and a Deputy who is part of the Cabinet and so forth, to push for a TRIPS waiver via the European Commission so people can get access to this vaccine.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this debate and important discussion. The figures he outlined, and the loss of life we have seen all over the world, reminds us all just how serious Covid-19 is and of the impact it has had on many people's lives, including those who have lost their lives, their families and many of those who have been left very ill. I again reiterate the importance of all of us all over the world working together, which is what we are trying to achieve through the WTO talks. More than 164 countries are working together and making decisions together. It is important that Ireland is in the middle of that and leading it. The Irish people would expect us to do that.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am conscious that he had it down for discussion at a similar time as the Seanad debate in December, but it is important that we get a chance to look back over it. It refers to Ireland's and the EU's position at those talks, which have not yet happened. This scheduled meeting was postponed because of the Omicron variant but, hopefully, it will happen soon. There have been ongoing meetings and discussions over the past few months, but we also need to have those formal talks.

It is important to point out that TRIPS is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization, WTO. Therefore, any proposal for a potential variation or waiver of the current intellectual property, IP, protections under the TRIPS Agreement is for negotiation at the WTO, where Ireland is one of 164 members. It is important that we are there and we use our influence through the EU Commission; we speak together with it.

As the Deputy is aware, the Tánaiste, who is the lead Minister in our Department, is on the record as saying very clearly that:

The Government is a very strong supporter of vaccine equity in the world. Morally we need to make sure the world is vaccinated.

It is something we are very committed to as a country because it represents the views of our people. That is why we did not oppose the motion in the Seanad. I think everyone in this Chamber today would support this view, as was the case when I addressed this matter in the Seanad in December. I wish to reiterate what I said then; Ireland will continue to do all we can to help make sure countries worldwide have access to Covid vaccines for their people. We will do so as universal and equitable access to vaccines is crucial in the global fight against Covid-19.

Ireland will continue to engage with the European Commission, and other member states, on the EU position for the WTO discussions regarding how the flexibilities within the TRIPS Agreement can contribute towards increasing the manufacturing capacity and the equitable access to vaccines around the world. The EU continues to be committed to an open and comprehensive dialogue with all WTO members to explore how the multilateral rules-based trading system can best support universal and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments. This is why the EU proposed an alternative to the TRIPS waiver proposal. That proposal was targeted and pragmatic and aims at ensuring that governments can resort to compulsory licences, including to export to countries with no or limited manufacturing capacities, in the most effective manner and adapted to the circumstances of a pandemic. The EU will also consider any other pragmatic proposal for a TRIPS waiver, should a further proposal be submitted. Again, it is something we are very committed to working through.

The Government has an open mind on the alternative suggestion of a TRIPS waiver. The Tánaiste recently met the United States trade representative, Katherine Tai, and made it very clear that we would happily look at a proposal, if one lands, and discuss that with her. It has not yet been formally put forward. Those talks have not formalised yet, but hopefully it will happen soon. The EU has repeatedly made clear that it sees intellectual property as being part of the solution to the pandemic and not the problem, but it is an issue. There are IP regimes in every country and it is a matter our Department has had a role in over many years. Due to that IP regime, we have seen billions invested in many drug treatments and solutions all over the world, in addition to Covid-19 treatments. A lot of taxpayers' money in many countries, amounting to billions, has been put forward in the past couple of years to build on that previous research to develop the drugs that are now helping us to deal with Covid. It is important that we get that balance right.

Consideration of this matter must balance the need to encourage and incentivise industry to continue to carry out research, to innovate and to develop new medicines and medicinal products during this public health crisis. Intellectual property protections are a crucial incentive for the research and development of new vaccines, modified vaccines adapted to new variants and new medicines and treatments for Covid-19, as well as investment in production capacity. Intellectual property, in our view, continues to play an important role as an enabler that contributes to our overall objective of ramping up production of Covid-19 vaccines and medicines. Again, therefore, any solution must balance industry’s research and innovation costs, and the importance of maintaining a workable IP regime, with the importance of ensuring fair, equitable access to medicines and medicinal products during this public health crisis. We remain very much committed to achieving that through dialogue with the European Commission and the WTO talks.

Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I again emphasise the amount of public money that has been invested by governments in private companies to research this vaccine. It runs into tens of billions at this stage. At the crux of this argument, because we can talk about and almost intellectualise why companies have to have property rights to what they create, we are talking about an emergency that the world has not seen for the past 75 years. We are talking about people dying unnecessarily while big pharma creates huge amounts of money and profits for its shareholders.

It is a binary choice. On the one hand, do we protect big pharma and its intellectual product?

Is it, on the other hand, to protect the vulnerable, the poor and people who cannot access vaccines? That is the binary choice. When it comes down to it, there are governments in rich countries that do not care about poor people and never have. That is the nature of capitalism, which at its heart has to cannibalise, consume and profit from a product. That is what it is doing with vaccines. Rationally, one would think this vaccine would be available to everybody and that everybody in this world would have got at least one. However, 40% of the world has not got any. How anybody logically can stand and defend that, I find very hard to take.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I want to be clear with the Deputy that the Irish Government and people absolutely do care. The Irish response to the pandemic has been rooted in our commitment to the principle of universal and equitable access to vaccines and treatments. We will continue to use our influence across the world on that. It is right and fair to say, and I acknowledged it in my opening comments, that billions have been invested from the public purse by countries and governments all over the world on behalf of their taxpayers. That, in conjunction with many billions spent before that on developing those drugs, has enabled us to be in our current position with regard to vaccines and a number of treatments. It is about how we utilise that wisely to get it to those who need it in all developing countries and situations where there is poverty, as well as continuing to be able to invest in treatments and drugs for future emergencies. We have to get that right. We know it is important to make sure there is equitable access to those vaccines around the world.

Ireland will continue to engage with the European Commission and other member states on the EU position for the WTO negotiations and discussions on how the flexibilities within the TRIPS agreement can contribute to increasing manufacturing capacity and equitable access to vaccines around the world. Consideration of this matter must balance industry’s research and innovation costs and the importance of maintaining a workable IP regime with the importance of ensuring fair, equitable access to medicines and medicinal products during this public health crisis. That balance is key to protecting future investment from all of us - taxpayers, private, etc. We will get the best bang for our buck by putting the two together.

We recognise and are clear in the Government that global access to vaccination is essential to curbing the spread and future mutations of the Covid-19 virus. Ensuring developing countries have access to vaccines is a complex endeavour involving a number of policy and operational areas, such as manufacturing, supply, distribution, transport, storage, capacity to manage vaccination campaigns and the uptake of vaccines by citizens in the countries concerned.

While the production of Covid-19 vaccines has substantially increased globally, fair distribution and diversifying production remain major objectives and ones we have to achieve. I think we can agree on that. The focus is shifting from vaccine production to administering vaccines and how strengthening health systems and preparedness is pivotal to the achievement of the 70% vaccination target.

We have to come at this from a range of areas but we are committed to the agenda of making sure there is fair and equitable access to vaccines across the world. That is something the Government will continue to do on behalf of the Irish people.