Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

A happy St. Brigid's Day to everyone. I hope each and every one of us takes on a piece of her character today, whether that be her strength of character, her kindness, her fearlessness or her compassion. If we can learn from her, we will learn many good qualities.

Once again I am calling for a debate in the House on the CA+ Convention, the pandemic preparedness treaty in development by the WHO's Intergovernmental Negotiating Body. This treaty will have a significant impact on future governmental approaches to health emergencies, containing as it does both legally binding and non-legally binding provisions dictating the behaviour of governments that are party to it. Provisions in the zero draft of the convention include a commitment to ring-fence a percentage of total healthcare budgets as well as the allocation of an, as yet, unset percentage of gross domestic product to be gifted to the WHO for use in foreign countries.Members will appreciate that we should all be a tad leery of measures based on GDP, as our high GDP does not accurately reflect the financial situation of the population due to the inflationary effect of multinational companies using Ireland as an EU tax base. Moneys taken from Ireland as a percentage of its GDP will have a disproportionately damaging effect.

That is but one of the concerns around the pandemic treaty. Perhaps the larger one for us, as legislators, is that it is yet another large step down the road to supranational legislative overreach, which is a trend that seems to be picking up momentum in Europe. The treaty contains legally binding provisions dictating how a signatory must act during a pandemic. These provisions will be binding for the foreseeable future on all successive Irish Governments, having been opted into by only one Government. We can see how concerns around sovereignty, that is, the ability of a state to rule itself in totality, could arise. This House has often been referred to as a rubber-stamping forum by colleagues who deeply wish it were not so. I fear that the whole of the Oireachtas is going that way, with one Government party Member mentioning in the media recently that many people do not realise that 70% of legislation comes from Europe and that Dáil business is often only about transposing what is decided elsewhere.

When one reflects on the cost to Ireland of operating these Houses, this reality is deeply shameful. That is why, next Tuesday, I am hosting an information event on the WHO pandemic treaty, with an international panel of speakers including doctors, lawyers and politicians, some of whom have given evidence before the US Congress and Senate regarding the WHO's role in the last pandemic. It is at 12 noon in the Leinster House audiovisual room and I hope Members of this House and the Lower House will attend.