Paul Murphy slams Ireland for blocking global COVID vaccine access
Paul Murphy accused the Irish government of blocking global access to COVID vaccines and demanded patents be scrapped. He said government lobbying for big pharmaceutical interests is causing deaths and prolonging the pandemic.
Accusation against the Irish government
He described the government's role as "criminal, murderous" and "absolutely scandalous", accusing it of lobbying at the European Council against a TRIPS waiver and defending big pharmaceutical corporations that are restricting supply.
Vaccine inequality and production capacity
He highlighted global vaccine inequality - one in 12 people in poor countries have received even one dose, Haiti has 1% vaccinated, and many African countries are between 2% and 5%. Three quarters of healthcare workers across Africa are not fully vaccinated. He said this is not due to lack of demand or manufacturing capacity; facilities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Senegal, Denmark and Canada have indicated they could produce vaccines.
Patents, profits and international proposals
Murphy blamed intellectual property restrictions and corporate profit protection for limiting supply, noting massive public money funded the research now yielding private profits. He cited a Bangladesh factory estimating it could produce a billion doses if IP rights were waived. He criticised reliance on COVAX and CTAP rhetoric while governments lobby against a TRIPS waiver, and noted that even the US has backed a TRIPS waiver proposal.
Call to cancel Eurozone debt to the ECB
He also called for cancellation of Eurozone countries' debt to the European Central Bank, citing public debt expansion of over 20% across Eurozone countries. He said academics, activists, trade unionists and left public representatives - including the People Before Profit TDs - published a pan-European call last week and urged a "simple bookkeeping operation" to cancel the debt now.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
It is criminal, it is murderous, it is absolutely scandalous the role that the Irish government is playing in blocking people around the world getting access to COVID vaccines. Scandalous. We're one year into the global rollout of the vaccines and just one in 12 people in poor countries have received even one dose of the COVID vaccine. In Haiti, only 1% of the population has been vaccinated. In many African countries, vaccination rates are between 2% and 5%. Three quarters of healthcare workers across Africa aren't fully vaccinated. It's not because of a lack of demand. It's not because of a lack of capacity to produce the vaccines. Manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Senegal, Denmark and Canada have all said they could be producing vaccines. Why aren't they? Because they are being blocked by big pharmaceutical corporations artificially restricting supply in order to protect their super profits. Massive public money poured into this research and now benefiting them in terms of private profits. One factory in Bangladesh alone estimates they could produce a billion vaccine doses if only the intellectual property rights could be waived. What does the Irish government do? They say COVAX this, CTAP that. Oh, we're not against it necessarily. But behind the closed doors in the European Council, the Irish government is lobbying on behalf of Big Pharma. It's a scandalous situation. Absolutely. Minister Varadkar said in a PQ answer last week, I have an open mind on the alternative suggestion of a TRIPS waiver. I have always said that if we receive a WTO proposal in writing, we will look at it. This has not happened yet. It is misleading to say the least. The first formal proposal from India and South Africa to the WTO came in October 2020. As for the open mind, then why is the Irish government lobbying at European Council level against a TRIPS waiver? Absolutely scandalous and it is causing the deaths of people around the world, including in this country, in terms of the spread of new variants like Omicron and so on. We cannot afford more delays, more variants, more deaths and restrictions. We need to scrap the patents now and share the vaccine recipes worldwide. The vast majority of countries in the world have backed this call. Even the US have backed the call for a TRIPS waiver. Finally, I want to deal with a different issue, which is the crucial call for the cancellation of Eurozone countries' debt to the European Central Bank. It is a call made by academics, activists, trade unionists and left public representatives, including the People Before Profit TDs, in a call published across Europe last week. The reason for this is because public debt has expanded by over 20 per cent across Eurozone countries. Why? Because the governments refuse to go after the increased profits and the increased wealth of the super wealthy that have happened during Covid. Instead, it goes into increased debt. That debt will be used later to say, now we need fiscal discipline, now we need a return to neoliberal policies. Instead of that, we need a simple bookkeeping operation to cancel the Eurozone country's debt to the ECB now. Dirty Mick Barry? Dirty Mick Barry.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
