Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I may have to come back to the Senator on that point. I had some notes on that matter. The short answer is that, as the Senator will be aware, I am on the public record as being in favour of such a waiver, as I have told him before. However, I am cognisant of the EU position. One of the concerns at an EU level is that there may potentially be unintended consequences if some of the incentive for these companies to move very quickly is removed. We can agree or disagree with that. This is a position that has been put to me. Let us say we remove intellectual property protection and then this new variant turns out to be serious. If it please God, it will not, but let us say that it does. Let us also say that the variant requires the vaccines to be adjusted. Will the pharmaceutical companies move as quickly in those circumstances? These are the kinds of concerns that have to be worked through.

My view is that we need a globally just solution to this. There is no point in us here in Ireland getting our first and second doses, our booster vaccines and who knows what else in the future unless a globally just solution to this issue is found. We must find such a solution for ethical reasons and reasons of justice and rights first and foremost, but enlightened self-interest is another reason to do so. It is in our interest to do so. It is not that this should be the motivating factor but it happens to also be in our interest.

Globally, Europe is at the centre of the export of vaccines to the developing world. A €1 billion proposal is being put in place to develop permanent production capacity in developing countries. This means those countries would not just be reliant on supplies being transported from other parts of the world. Let us forget about the EU for a second and ask what we in Ireland can do. We have donated several hundred thousand doses of vaccines. We have also donated more than €7 million to COVAX. It is the Government's intention to do more but, when one looks around the world, one sees that Europe is leading the way in exporting large amounts of vaccines to lower and middle-income countries.

More can be done. Perhaps Ireland can play a role in that, given our high vaccine uptake rates. Colleagues will be aware that the South African Government recently asked the pharmaceutical companies to slow down delivery of the vaccines because of vaccine hesitancy. Perhaps Ireland, as a small country, can play a role in that regard, given that there has been a very successful programme here which has been embraced broadly. I assure the Senator that I believe there must be a quick and just solution to this issue that makes sure that vaccines are distributed all over the world. However, we must do more than just distribute vaccines. We want to see permanent production capacity in these countries so they are not reliant on other parts of the world to send them vaccines. Ireland and other countries can provide additional support with regard to public engagement and the roll-out of campaigns to address vaccine hesitancy, leading to high take-up rates.