Heads of State are today meeting at the European Council. As they do, variants of the virus are rampaging through the global south. I ask again what is the position of the Irish Government on the TRIPS waiver? It is fair to say the vaccination programme here and in other wealthy countries are going well but if perfect incubator conditions are being created in less prosperous places throughout the world, we are all at risk. As a former and potentially future Head of this State, what would be the Tánaiste's message on the TRIPS waiver and whether Ireland should be demonstrating leadership in that regard?

My view is simply that a TRIPS waiver is not enough to do what needs to be done, which is to make sure that the global south can manufacture vaccines and administer them across their populations. A TRIPS waiver is not enough in that regard. It is proverbially like giving somebody the recipe but not the kitchen. They have not been given the materials or know-how to produce vaccines. The first thing that should happen is export bans should stop. As trade Minister, I have instructed my officials to vote against export bans, and we have. It is all very well for countries such as the United States to back a TRIPS waiver while banning exports at the same time. We must get rid of export bans. The best thing we can do is to work together and with industry to license this intellectual property to the global south and help to build the necessary factories, provide the money and know-how to do these things, and then help them to provide vaccines to their populations. A TRIPS waiver on its own might make us feel good but it would not do much good. It needs to be a part of a comprehensive solution and we are working towards that with the WTO.