Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with every word Senator Garvey uttered. I was delighted to hear her calling for a TRIPS waiver. I was delighted to hear Senator O'Loughlin say she supports a TRIPS waiver. I must be clear on this point, however. If a Senator votes for the Government amendment, he or she is voting against a TRIPS waiver. There is no debate about that because the TRIPS waiver is clearly referred to in Senator Higgins's motion and it is not in the amendment. It has been removed by the Government. Colleagues are here from the Council of Europe. They are people I respect immensely who stand up for human rights. I ask them, genuinely, not to vote for this amendment because the issue is too important.

I was so disappointed when I saw the amendment. I know Senator Higgins went out of her way in terms of how she drew up the motion. There is no criticism of the Government in this motion, which would have been easy to do. If I had drafted it, I probably would have criticised it. Senator Higgins crafted it superbly. She makes a clear and public call to the Government to speak out for a TRIPS waiver. That has been removed in the Government amendment, yet from all the arguments we have heard, we know that is the wrong stance. Anyone who attended the meeting on Tuesday that Senator Higgins organised will have heard the spokesperson from Oxfam. Last week in the Chamber, I spoke about 5 million deaths. I was wrong; the true figure is closer to 17 million deaths. I do not even know how to express that. There have been 17 million deaths. As we were told yesterday, each day that the European Union and the Government refuses to speak out clearly and call for a TRIPS waiver costs people's lives.

Senator Garvey dealt expertly with the Government countermotion which refers to TRIPS flexibilities. She is absolutely correct. As all the world's human rights bodies have highlighted, that is no good and of no use. An article on the Public Citizen website states:

mRNA vaccines have 100 key components, many of which are IP protected, and produced in multiple jurisdictions. Thus, in order to manufacture a “generic” COVID-19 mRNA vaccine using TRIPS flexibilities, the relevant producer would have to seek compulsory licenses for each IP-protected commodity in its country of manufacturer and export, which would require the compulsory licensing cooperation of the exporting country and input producer. It would likewise have to seek a compulsory license allowing for import of each such component and allowing for production of the vaccine. Finally, if a producer wished to export in order to create a viable market, it would have to coordinate further and follow intractable WTO procedures to seek additional compulsory licenses in other countries to allow import and use of the vaccine. These ... complexities that are virtually insurmountable.

That is what the Government amendment is calling for Senators to support. With all respect, I ask them not to do that. If they cannot vote for Senator Higgins' motion, find something else to do when it comes time to vote. When the history of the biggest crisis humanity has faced is written, do Senators want their names beside an amendment that denied and removed the call for a TRIPS waiver? Let us put our party badges to one side just for this evening and do what is right.

It is so clear. On the one hand, there are the medical experts, the key medical people we know and respect. What is the line we all believe in? Follow the science and the medical advice. Do we not say that? Is that not what we followed throughout this pandemic, and rightly so? All these people are saying we desperately need a TRIPS waiver. As others have pointed out, the spurious arguments about reluctance to put vaccines into people's arms is just not true. There are manufacturing sites ready to go within three months. We have been waiting for this for a year already. It is unfortunate but true that the EU has been the main stumbling block. We have a voice. Ireland has a voice. It is wrong that, to date, the Government has not used that voice. Why do we not unite, all of us together, to call on the Government to make a clear call for a TRIPS waiver so we can begin to heal this world and begin to protect everybody, not least of course ourselves?