Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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539. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to a request for engagement with a group (details supplied) in light of ongoing negotiations on the World Health Organization's pandemic treaty; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61692/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland strongly supports a multilateral approach to global health issues with the WHO in a central leadership role. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the global status quo in terms of pandemic preparedness and response is not acceptable.

An Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) was established by WHO to manage the process to negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response; its December meeting will see discussion of a conceptual zero draft of the Pandemic Agreement. A progress report on the negotiations is expected to be delivered to the 76th World Health Assembly in 2023, with the aim of adopting the agreement by 2024.

Ireland supports this WHO-led process to negotiate a binding legal instrument on pandemic preparedness and response. The aim of such a Pandemic Agreement is to protect public health and to help save lives in the event of future pandemics.

The EU is also a leading proponent of this process and Ireland, along with a majority of EU Member States, is part of the Group of Friends of the Treaty. It should be noted that while certain health matters are within the competency of EU Member States, other health matters are within the competency of the EU itself. Officials in my Department, working with Ireland's Permanent Representation to the UN in Geneva, are engaging and will continue to engage with other Government Departments, the EU negotiator, and the INB bureau in this process.

The Group of Friends of the Treaty strongly supports an agreement that would foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics.

As part of the negotiating process the INB has held a number of its meetings in public; Ireland strongly supports this action and welcomes the participation of civil society organisations in this process. Accordingly, I have instructed officials in my Department working on this agreement to respond positively to approaches from the organisations the Deputy mentions and arrange to meet in the new year.