Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As my colleagues have said, the Quad proposal is inadequate. It is a step backwards. It is "not a workable or effective solution", according to Professor Aisling McMahon from Maynooth University. The people of the global south are the most affected by the vaccine apartheid. At the WTO ministerial conference, the Indian minister for commerce said:

... what we are getting is completely half-baked and it will not allow us to make any vaccines. They have no intentions of allowing therapeutics and diagnostics and if at all they try to say that we are the cause for its collapse, I think we should unanimously speak to the world and tell them that no, ideally we want a holistic solution including therapeutic and diagnostics...

It would be unacceptable for Ireland to be pushing an agreement that, amidst grave Covid vaccine inequities, has the potential to make the situation worse. Will the Tánaiste heed the call of the Irish public, the Seanad and the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the European Parliament and support a full TRIPS waiver?