Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for Health. I appreciate the spirit in which the question has been presented. Ireland has been significantly deepening its collaboration with World Health Organization across all levels, including with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. This closer engagement has been driven in part by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated global health processes.

The WHO is an important pillar of the United Nations system, to which Ireland is committed in the context of our broader support for the rules-based multilateral order. Last July, I was honoured to represent Ireland, as one of 40 ministers for older persons, at an important United Nations conference.

The annual World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of World Health Organization attended by delegations from all WHO member states as well as observers. Observers have included the Holy See and Palestine, international organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and regional groups. The Minister for Health, as the Senator said, will lead Ireland's delegation to the WHA next week. The assembly will consider a number of important issues relating to global health matters.

The matter before us relates to Taiwan's participation in the World Health Organization and the World Health Assembly. Taiwan, as Chinese Taipei, has an existing precedent of participation in the multilateral system. It has full membership of a number of organisations, including the World Trade Organization, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, body and the Asian Development Bank.

Taiwan attended the World Health Assembly from 2009 to 2016 on the invitation of the director general of the World Health Organization. At that time, Taiwan participated on the same basis as other observers to the annual meeting. However, since 2016, it has not been invited to participate. Taiwan prioritises medical co-operation in its international relations. During the pandemic, it undertook activities focused on vaccine co-operation, hosting research conferences and offering support to developing countries' health systems. Taiwan's experience with severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, is widely accepted to have given it specific expertise in dealing with pandemics. In this context, we believe that Taiwan has expertise to share, at a technical level, on Covid-19 and other health matters.

As the Senator will be aware, in a recent speech, the Tánaiste underlined the Government's continuing commitment to the One China policy. In his speech, the Tánaiste also stated that the policy does not preclude the development of economic, cultural and people-to-people connections or the meaningful participation of Taiwan in relevant multilateral forums. In this context, we consider that co-operation on global health matters falls within the parameters of the One China policy and that Taiwan can make a technical contribution to the global health agenda.

Our experience of the pandemic has renewed our understanding of the importance of the multilateral system. The lessons learned from managing Covid-19 around the world are crucial for our future responses to managing global health issues.