Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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835. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide a report on his meeting with EU Health Ministers on 1 March 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12870/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I met with my EU counterparts via videoconference on the morning of 1 March 2021 for an informal meeting of EU Health Ministers, convened by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The meeting was chaired from Lisbon by Portuguese Minister for Health Marta Temido. I led the Irish delegation. The European Commission was represented by Commission Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas, and Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides. Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) Andrea Ammon and Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) Emer Cooke also attended the meeting and made presentations before EU and EFTA Member States each made an intervention.

The discussion focussed on the impact of variants on Member States, national testing strategies, and the need for information sharing on the national rollout of COVID-19 vaccination plans.

During my intervention, I shared Ireland’s experience of its testing strategy and exploration of advanced technologies which when guided by scientific evidence will inform the future testing service. I voiced Ireland's support for the objectives of the proposed HERA Incubator, the precursor to the establishment of the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), as well as efforts to increase information-sharing on vaccination rollout and lessons learnt across Member States.