Paul Murphy presses Tánaiste on TRIPS waiver for COVID diagnostics

Thanks a lot, Chair. Basically I want to ask the Tanaiste about the status of his engagement at WTO and EU level with regard to the proposal to extend the TRIPS agreement to cover, not applying the TRIPS agreement to cover COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostic tests as well as the issue of vaccines. Mr. Chair, my ire is now as good as yours, just to be sure I am taking 13, 14 and 43 together, is that okay? Mr. Chair, responding to the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ministers at the WTO Ministerial Conference in June 22 agreed an outcome in relation to the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines. The Ministerial decision on the TRIPS agreement provides for a waiver of certain obligations of the TRIPS agreement and includes clarifications that will allow eligible WTO members to authorise a company to manufacture and export COVID-19 vaccines in a fast and simplified manner and without the consent of the patent owner. Developing countries would be able to use this solution to authorise the manufacturer, the import or the export of COVID-19 vaccines without prior negotiation with the patent owner and without any notification requirements that would delay the staff to the manufacturer or expert. Equally important is the clarification that the remuneration for patent owners may take account of humanitarian or not-for-profit purposes of production and hence support in the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines at affordable prices for those in need. The Ministerial decision covers COVID-19 vaccines as well as the ingredients and processes necessary for the manufacture. At the time of the adoption of the decision, there was no consensus among the members to cover also COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics. As a compromise, paragraph 8 of the decision stipulates that no later than six months on the date of that decision, which will bring us to the 17th of December this year, members will be expected to decide on whether to extend the decision to cover the production and the supply of the COVID-19 diagnosis and therapeutics. You are already aware that the trade is an exclusive competence of the EU and, accordingly, the negotiations on TRIPS as a trade matter are led by the EU. The EU is in the process of conducting internal consultations and analysis on the extension, taking into consideration that the fact for COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics is more complex than the one pertaining to vaccines. Discussions on the extension of the mechanism to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics are ongoing in the WTO and the EU is engaging constructively in these discussions. Ireland will continue to engage with the European Commission and other member states on the EU position. A decision to extend the earlier ministerial decision from June 2022 will require the agreement of all WTO members. So, again, the next main date is December, if we are to stay within those six months, and we will certainly update the members after that session as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks a lot. What is Ireland's position? You spoke for a long time, but you did not say what Ireland's position is. Does Ireland support extending the TRIPS waiver to diagnostics, other technology other than vaccines? Or does it not? Does it stand with the poorest people in the world who want to get access to the technology to be able to test for, and so on, COVID? Or does it stand with the big pharmaceutical companies who want to keep a monopoly on those technologies in order to maximise their profits? Where does Ireland stand? That is very, very important to know, because what is being reported is that the obstructive position in the talks is being taken by the EU, the UK, Canada and Japan, who are seeking to delay progress in relation to that. And obviously Ireland is part of the EU. But what is Ireland's position? Does the Irish government support extending the TRIPS waiver to diagnostics and therapeutics? Or does it not? Thanks, Chair. I do have that letter that was addressed to the T-shirt as well from those individuals, again, outlining the concerns. And we have to reflect on what progress has been made already since we were discussing this, which was the access to the vaccine. That was a discussion that mainly people were raising here before. So the ministerial decision on the TRIPS agreement provides for a waiver of certain obligations of the TRIPS agreement and includes clarifications that will allow eligible WTO members to authorise a company to manufacture and export COVID-19 vaccine. In a fast and simplified manner and without the consent of the patent owner. There have been major changes here. Developing countries will be able to use this solution to authorise the manufacturer, import or export of COVID-19 vaccines without prior negotiation with the patent owner and without any notification requirements that would delay the start of the manufacturers or export. Equally important is the clarification that the remuneration for patent owners may take account of humanitarian or not for proper purpose of production and hence support the production and supply of COVID-19 vaccines at affordable prices for those in need. The decision that has been made already will simplify to the maximum the process to export vaccines and their ingredients to other developing countries. This includes waiving of various prior notifications, packaging or labelling requirements. It will also enable developing countries to scale up their production capacity and supply vaccines to other eligible members. It will also support the establishment of manufacturing hubs that rely on the supply chains in multiple countries, facilitating for instance the establishment to fill and finish capacities in several countries. The outcome maintains the protection of IP as opposed to waiving IP rights, a key element for developing countries not only to benefit from the innovation that the system sustains but also to have the environment that incentivises investments that the international community should make to boost capacity and diversification. The production of vaccines and pharmaceutical products more broadly throughout the world. I have argued here before that the successful production of new vaccines and new medicines involves public money and private money. It is fair to say there was a lot of extra public money put on top of billions of private money in relation to COVID-19. There is no doubt about that. But there was an investment of private money well before that as well. We have to make sure that the IP regime protects both those investments and enhances the best opportunities as well. We believe Ireland's role in our negotiations through the EU in the trade talks has assisted with these changes and we will continue to take that approach in the next couple of months up to December 17. They are negotiations. We are part of negotiations through the EU at a WTO that involves 150 plus countries. So I can't go into every little detail you want me to do here. But we recognise... Public, private and profit. It is how you best maximise money for research. And trust me, I don't have all the figures here today, but I think the private end of that is probably higher than the public end. Let's be fair for that for a long number of years. And it is important that we maximise the opportunity there. We differ here on the need to have a blend of public and private money in research. To me, it is how do you maximise the impact from expenditure. And that is by combining the two in many ways. And that is not an approach shared by Deputy Murphy. Deputy Conny, I am not sure of your approach, but I know Deputy Murphy believes it should be all just practical money. I believe that misses out on opportunities that we have to build on as well. Thank you for Marcus.