Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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2340. To ask the Minister for Health to provide details on her meeting with the head of the World Health Organization during her St Patrick’s Day visit to New York; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20286/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I met with the WHO DG, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus on 11 March 2025 during my St Patrick’s Day visit to New York. He was keen to use the opportunity of this short meeting to brief me on current challenges: the US health funding cuts, the Pandemic Accord negotiations and the Gaza crisis. I found this meeting useful and am interested in having a more in-depth engagement with the DG when he is next in Ireland, or when I am in Geneva.

The following was discussed:

US cuts.

Dr Tedros briefed on the impact of the withdrawal of the US from WHO and its other global health funding cutbacks. He highlighted the resulting risk of rollback on the progress that has been made on AIDS, TB and Malaria and pointed out that WHO emergency programming will be amongst the sectors worse hit. Dr Tedros said that the bilateral health funding hits taken by many programme countries are much worse than what the WHO is experiencing and that the suddenness of the cuts had made them especially difficult to manage. Given established national budget allocations, responding at scale to the sudden US cuts quickly through fresh domestic funding allocations is not possible in many cases.

Dr Tedros parsed the arguments presented in the relevant U.S. Executive Order for leaving the WHO (www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-the-worldhealth-organization/). He asserted that contrary to the logic of this document:

• the WHO has undertaken 7 years of reforms and is ready to accelerate these in partnership with the US,
• the WHO is open to widening burden sharing in a manner that would reduce the assessed contributions of the US over time,
• the WHO took a reasonable and transparent and approach to assessing the origins of the C19 outbreak and resisted pressure from China in this regard (the WHO is independent and science based, and pressures have also been exerted from other countries at different times – the WHO has always withstood those). The WHO is also committed to applying the lessons it learned from this crisis in collaboration with the US and other partner.

Pandemic Accord.

Dr Tedros underlined that getting a good result in the ongoing negotiations on the Pandemic Treaty would be a major boost for global multilateralism. He sought Ireland’s support ahead of 6 April, the start of the next formal INB session and highlighted ongoing disagreements on 1) the funding framework 2) prevention and 3) voluntary and mutually agreed technology transfer (VMAT) vs mutually agreed technology transfer (MAT).

The Director-General referenced complex technical debates and seemed to suggest the funding framework used for influenza could be a simple model to follow. He noted that some countries in the South, including Brazil and Botswana, are concerned about prevention based on the One Health Approach, given their trade interests. Dr Tedros favoured MAT over what he described as the “new stricter standard” of VMAT. He indicated that support for the VMAT position was emanating from private sector interests, the UK, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, Slovakia and some others within the EU. We underlined that Ireland is supportive of an equitable approach and discussed options for follow up with in the EU and with other senior WHO staff. However, we also referenced that fact that we need to align with collective EU positions on trade matters. Dr Tedros suggested that, if needed, it might be possible to just rely on WTO rules in the pandemic text.

Gaza Crisis.

After we underlined our appreciation for the WHO’s humanitarian work in locations such as Gaza and Sudan, Dr Tedros spoke about the need for balanced and morally grounded approach to addressing the crisis in Gaza. He recalled his own efforts in this regard (including high-profile outreach to the families of hostages) and underlined his appreciation for Ireland’s principled stance, including the steps we have taken with likeminded European partners. He underlined that he personally feels closer to Israel than to Palestine because many members of his own tribe in Ethiopia are Jews who have moved to Israel and contributed to life there, in politics in the IDF or otherwise.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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2341. To ask the Minister for Health whether an increase in funding from Ireland or the EU for the World Health Organization was raised in her meeting with the head of the World Health Organization during her St Patrick’s Day visit to New York; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20287/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I met with the WHO DG, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus on 11 March 2025 during my St Patrick’s Day visit to New York. He was keen to use the opportunity of this short meeting to brief me on current challenges including the US health funding cuts. He noted that Ireland is an “all-weather friend” and sought our ongoing backing. I found this meeting useful and am interested in having a more in-depth engagement with the DG when he is next in Ireland, or when I am in Geneva.

Dr Tedros outlined the WHOs plan for responding to US health funding cuts which includes intensified efficiency measures, new resource mobilisation efforts and extensive staff cuts.

When the Director-General asked about assistance Ireland might be able to offer, I was clear that Ireland will continue to fund the WHO’s work and to speak out in support of its mandate and role. I also mentioned supporting the WHO through our research facilities and other means beyond finance and asked for specific recommendations from the WHO.