Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by quoting one of my favourite singers, who passed away in Kilkenny a few years ago. His name is John Martyn, a great Scottish folk singer. Approximately 50 years ago, he famously wrote:

Some of us live like princes

Some of us live like queens

Most of us live just like me

And we don’t know what it means

To take our place in one world

His words come to mind because, as colleagues will know, there is a protest taking place outside Leinster House as we speak. I will join it after I have spoken. I will return for the Leader's response. The protest relates to the Government's continued failure to endorse a waiver for the intellectual property rights in respect of Covid vaccines. I want to say this in a way that is not argumentative, but I am completely at a loss as to why the Government continues to side with the rest of the EU in actively blocking a waiver in respect of these vaccines. With the advent of the latest variant, we know just how crucial it is that the whole world gets vaccinated. We know that no one is safe until everyone is safe, yet the fact is the Government, at least at Cabinet level, is consistently backing up the EU position of blocking a waiver of intellectual property rights.

Two things happen when I raise this issue. The first is that most people on the Government benches agree with me and state that something should be done. The second is that they point out the good work the Government is doing in the context of COVAX and so on, and that is important.However, let us be clear that for as long as the Government sides with big pharma against the people of the world, there is something fundamentally wrong. It lacks a moral compass. There is no justifiable argument for not waiving those intellectual property rights.

Let us bear in mind that just 2% of people in Africa are vaccinated. While we are getting our boosters - I am fortunate enough to be getting mine on Friday - I cannot help thinking there is something fundamentally wrong. At times, all Senators gather together to agree on key subjects, such as on Covid to some degree, for example, but particularly on this issue. I am minded to table a motion in the House to get all-party support because there is no way any of us, regardless of political party, should tolerate the Taoiseach and Tánaiste continuing to side against the people of the world. The World Trade Organization is holding talks on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, TRIPS, this week. Unfortunately, unless something fundamental changes, the Taoiseach and the Government are once again going to side with big pharma to ensure its profits get bigger while people are denied vaccines. Surely to God, all of us should do something now to make sure that does not happen.