Nollaig shona daoibh go léir. I am told I test the patience of others more than most, so thanks, apologies and best wishes to the Ceann Comhairle, all the Oireachtas staff, the Tánaiste and all Members.

I raise the issue of the TRIPS waiver. The Seanad has spoken. Experts have told us the EU is involved in a stalling tactic. We know what Mary Robinson has said. We are told the existing provision for compulsory licensing will not do the business. We are only talking about that dealing with the patent aspects of intellectual property. We would still have considerable issues over trade details and secrets. We would be dealing with the matter with a patent-by-patent and country-by-county approach, and that would not work. COVAX is not going to cut the mustard. The Government needs to follow the Seanad. I ask that the Tánaiste and the Government would meet with experts such as the People's Vaccine Alliance. We need to act now. We are dealing with Omicron and whatever comes next.

I thank the Deputy. This is a European competence, as a trade issue. The position of the European Union is that compulsory licensing is a better approach than the TRIPS waiver approach. However, neither is a silver bullet and neither will result in vaccines being produced all of a sudden on their own. What is required is a comprehensive response. That is what the Government and I support. We will consider any proposal that is presented to the WTO that would result in more vaccines being produced. As was the case with small pox and polio, we will not defeat this illness on a national basis. It must be done on a global basis.