Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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In December 2020, we had a moment of optimism when, following a massive global effort and up to €93 billion in public funding, we heard about vaccines that had been developed and were going to address and alleviate the devastating impact of Covid-19. There was also knowledge at that point about how we could work collectively to address this as a global health crisis. There was the C-TAP proposal, which was a technology pool to share not just vaccines but medicines, treatments, know-how and diagnostics in a practical way to ensure we got treatment and vaccines to everybody as quickly as possible. South Africa and India proposed that we should use the mechanisms that were there for exactly this kind of health emergency to waive the intellectual property, IP, on vaccines and their know-how and lift the TRIPS mechanisms. Despite that proposal being made, in the 18 months since then, there has been a succession of delays, disinegenuous arguments and WTO meeting after WTO meeting that have not addressed this issue. That is even though the public and parliamentarians know this is the way to go. The European Parliament, the committees and the Seanad have called for a TRIPS waiver but shamefully, our Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment went to the meeting between the African Union and the EU and said he did not want people to take advantage of this to damage innovation and intellectual property.

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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The Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment heard from Oxfam Ireland and Médecins Sans Frontières on this matter. The good news is that we wrote to the Tánaiste on an all-party basis and said he needed to come out in full support of a TRIPS waiver for Covid-19 vaccines. However, the disgraceful fact of the matter is that he has done quite the opposite. The EU is now supporting the so-called Quad proposal. I will briefly explain why that is not sufficient to deal with the crisis. Today, just 12% of people in Africa have received two vaccines, as opposed to 81% in Europe. There is still a very real crisis there. The Quad proposal applies primarily to patents and not other IP rights, such as trade secrets, which are also vital for vaccines. It falls far short of the broad package of measures envisaged by the TRIPS waiver. While often presented as a waiver, it does not waive IP rights. Instead, it primarily makes modifications to existing TRIPS compulsory licensing mechanisms. The Quad proposal also introduces various additional requirements for compulsory licences that TRIPS requires. For example, it requires a list of all patents relevant to the vaccine before a compulsory licence is issued. This could prove exceptionally difficult in practice. The proposal only applies to eligible members, which are defined narrowly, limiting who can use it. Put simply, the Quad proposal is not a workable or effective solution.

Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein)
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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?

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senators for raising this topic and affording me the opportunity to address the House about this important issue. I have listened carefully and agree with many of the points raised by the Senators. As they are aware, the WTO ministerial conference is ongoing and concludes today in Geneva. This is the major decision-making forum for the WTO and the intention is that the intellectual property aspects can be agreed as part of the broader WTO trade-related response to the pandemic. A draft ministerial decision on the TRIPS agreement is under intense discussion by ministers with the aim of finding a solution that will be acceptable to all WTO members. This draft decision offers the most promising path towards achieving a meaningful outcome that will contribute to ensuring access to safe and effective vaccines across the globe. The decision provides for a waiver and clarification of some of the flexibilities within the TRIPS agreement. If agreed, the proposal will address the concerns of South Africa and developing countries and will allow them to immediately authorise the manufacture, import and export of Covid-19 vaccines without the consent of the patent owners. At the same time, the solution maintains a functioning intellectual property framework, which is crucial to incentivise the investment and research that is necessary for the development of new vaccines and medicines.

The EU believes the proposal represents the most promising path toward achieving a meaningful outcome among all WTO members. As a member of the EU, Ireland will continue to engage constructively with the European Commission and other member states on the EU position on the discussions at the ministerial conference. It is also important to highlight that there are now sufficient vaccines for everybody in the world, including for booster campaigns. Vaccine supply currently exceeds demand. Vaccine producers have highlighted that the demand for vaccines has declined significantly. In late February, the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention called for a pause in vaccine donations to Africa until the end of the year, noting that supply was no longer the main challenge. Rather, logistics, infrastructure, and vaccine hesitancy are the main barriers.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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I reject the suggestion that vaccine hesitancy and distribution mechanisms are the main obstacles here. The fact that these countries have not been able to have public heath vaccine programmes has been a key obstacle and they have not been able to have public health programmes on an organised basis because they have not had a reliable supply of vaccines. I reject the Minister of State's suggestion profoundly. I note there is some progress being made but the problem is that we are still stalling for months. This time last year, we were hearing about an EU proposal that did not work, which just moved around the pieces in the existing TRIPS agreement. Flexibility is not the same as a waiver. I am very concerned that it looks like diagnostics and therapeutics, which are the crucial other part for those who have suffered from Covid-19 due to the neglect of the global north, are still being put on the long finger. We need to do more and better. Is Ireland taking the side of those seeking to strengthen these proposals in the negotiations, or is it joining the voices seeking to weaken them?

Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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The fact of the matter is that the Government is siding with big pharma as opposed to with the people of the world, the World Health Organization and organisations like Oxfam. It is shameful. People in the Minister of State's own party voted against the stance the Tánaiste is taking. Please tell us the Government can and will do better.

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that this is a critical issue and I believe it is morally right to ensure that, regardless of where people are in the world, they have access to vaccines. I firmly believe, as does the Government, that no one is safe until everybody is safe. As vaccine production is no longer the issue, the international community is now focused on the need to rapidly build capacity in low-income countries including with regard to healthcare workers, cold chain logistics, infrastructure to properly move and store vaccines and syringe supply, so the demand for vaccines will increase in line with supply and vaccines can be administered on the necessary scale to meet the World Health Organization's 70% vaccination target by mid-2022. On the IP aspects of the trade-related responses to the pandemic, the compromise proposal on the table will facilitate the production of vaccines that are key for regions such as Africa and will allow those regions to create a self-sufficient pharmaceutical production base while preserving the incentives for innovation and investment that are key for responding to new diseases. I will bring the Senator's views and observations back to the Minister.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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To frame this as a demand issue, after artificially delaying supply for 18 months, adds insult to injury.

Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his time. I also thank the Senators.