Seanad debates

Wednesday, 15 December 2021

10:30 am

Photo of Malcolm ByrneMalcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber. I know him as somebody who is very compassionate and with a real interest in matters like this and human rights. I commend Senator Higgins and her colleagues on what is a very well-worded motion in considering this issue. I probably cannot express my views in the same way as Senator Garvey, with such compassion and emotion, but I share her views on the matter.

I have spoken to my Fianna Fáil colleagues about this specific issue and the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, has said he is personally in favour of a TRIPS waiver. I am concerned that the Government did not consult the Fianna Fáil Seanad group before tabling this amendment, despite I and others expressing a very strong view on the need for a TRIPS waiver or a discussion on the matter from very early on. We have raised that on a number of occasions.

Many people have stated, correctly, that we will not get out of this pandemic until everybody is out of it. I also want to speak about our values, not just Irish values but European Union values. Everybody is speaking about companies like Pfizer and the profits they make. I support free and fair trade and I believe in the potential of these companies. We must remember that very significant state investment was made to support much of the research carried out. In solving such problems, public private partnerships are essential. We must have partners not just to solve this pandemic but also to solve future global crises. It will be a case of having all hands on deck, whether people are involved in the public or private sectors.

I am a Europhile and strongly believe in the importance of the European Union on the global stage and the positive values the European Union can bring to the world.In an increasingly G2 world dominated by the US and China - I have major problems with the values of both countries, particularly, as colleagues will know, the values espoused by China - the European Union can be that other voice at the table, one that expresses values of human rights, the rule of law, fairness and inclusion. That was the basis on which the European Union was founded. During the 1950s, in the post-war scenario, Europe was destroyed. The principles of peace and prosperity guided Europe throughout that time.

One of the things of which my party, Fianna Fáil, has always been proudest is that ours is a party that supports multilateralism, has supported EU membership and believes in support for overseas development aid. That is the reason this Government sought a seat on the UN Security Council and Ireland has played an active role at global level. I am hugely proud that we are the only country in the world that has taken part in every UN peacekeeping mission since the blue helmets started to engage. That is why I have a problem with the approach being taken here. It goes against what I believe to be Irish and European Union values. At the start of this pandemic, when there was criticism of the European Union, the Union did not put in place an export ban. It said that, as part of our values, it was important we not have in place an export ban, which the UK and the US put in place. We saw the EU supporting those general principles, but there seems to be a move back from that position. I welcome the fact that the EU is now gaining greater competence in the area of healthcare, particularly in tackling some of these global issues.

I am a multilateralist. I passionately believe we must have international organisations. I believe in the rule of law and that there has to be co-operation. On an issue like this, which is a global challenge, we should not be arguing over intellectual property rights. I fully accept that we have to protect IP rights but I cannot understand why on an issue like this there is such an approach. I believe that nearly every Senator personally feels as passionately about this as I do.

Senator Higgins's motion is worded very fairly. If it were a motion that criticised the Government and so on, I would come back on it because at a domestic level we have done a wonderful job on the roll-out of the vaccination programme. People forget that. There are glitches, but on the roll-out of the vaccine campaign, even the roll-out of the booster campaign, Ireland is doing extraordinarily well. However, we should be, as Senator Moynihan said, a guiding light to the rest of the world. I was not consulted about the Government's countermotion. I do not believe it reflects the spirit of my party, the spirit of what this country believes in or the spirit of the European Union and for those reasons, I will not vote for it.

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