Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, Senator Malcolm Byrne, on his contribution and on taking a stand on the issue. There was an email from Oxfam that stood out for me. I will not expand much on it. It said that a failure to vaccinate the world is not just economically and epidemiologically foolish but also diplomatically and morally unacceptable.

Before I go any further, I wish to commend the work of Senator Higgins. We signed a letter to the Taoiseach before the summer, I think, and the Taoiseach, although he did not commit to supporting a TRIPS waiver, did commit to engaging with the European Commission and member states on the EU position. I noted with interest that when the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, was before the Seanad on Tuesday, 7 December, he said he had an open mind on the suggestion of a TRIPS waiver. He said:

I have always said that if we receive a WTO proposal in writing, we will look at it. That has not happened yet.

I thought it was quite weak on the part of the Tánaiste to say that if the Government were to get a proposal, it could look at it. The proposals are coming left, right and centre from the World Health Organization. We need to heed those calls from the director-general of the World Health Organization and most world leaders that the TRIPS waiver is needed as part of the solution to combat the pandemic. Hundreds of millions of people do not have access to a vaccine because they were born in the wrong place, basically, as far as vaccine distribution is concerned. The waiving of patents should have been sorted at the very start.

I will not expand any further on the points that have been raised about the millions in public moneys that have gone into funding these vaccines. I call on the Government and Seanad colleagues to do as Senator Malcolm Byrne has done and back the motion. I am not sure how Senator Byrne will do that but I commend him on it.