2026-04-22

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am delighted to be here today to introduce the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) (Amendment) Bill to the House. The purpose of the Bill is to reduce the appeal and accessibility of e-cigarettes, vapes and other nicotine products such as pouches to young people. This Bill and the single-use vapes Bill together with the 2023 Act mean that we will have one of the strongest regulatory frameworks in the EU on these products. According to the current evidence e-cigarettes may be less harmful than tobacco smoking but this does not mean that they are harmless. Our priority with this Bill is to protect the health of our young people and non-smokers by reducing the likelihood that they will take up or continue to use products like vapes. The primary health risk for our children is that the use of nicotine may become an addiction which could lead to tobacco smoking with the absolutely devastating health harms that can cause. While we may all have heard stories or even known someone who had no difficulties with quitting cigarettes, the evidence tells us that around 90% of people who smoke are addicted to nicotine and find it very difficult to overcome that addiction. This is not the future that we want for our young people or for those who do not already smoke. The evidence confirms the risk to young people with a report from our Health Research Board finding that adolescents who vape are more likely to subsequently smoke. While it is a very important achievement that smoking rates among children have reduced to 5% from frighteningly higher levels in the past, we all agree that our aim should be to bring this down to 0%. Tackling tobacco head on is necessary to ensure that we reach our smoking-free goal for adults and children. However, regulating nicotine products is also important to ensure that these products do not contribute to an increase in smoking prevalence among our young people. There are many concerns about the continues. Since July 2014 the World Health Organization has recommended that the sale of e-cigarettes to minors should be banned as there is evidence that nicotine may have long-term consequences for brain development. The figures on the use of vapes by our young people are mixed in the trends they are showing. Our 2022 health behaviour in school-aged children study found that 90% of the 12- to 17-year-old children have used an e-cigarette at least once. This is a decrease from 22% on 2018. In the same survey 13% reported that they had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days, which is an increase from 9% in 2018. This data shows that the gap between ever using and use in the past 30 days has narrowed, suggesting that more children may be converting from experimentation to regular use. The 2024 European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs of 15- to 16-year-olds found that 16% were current vape users which is a decrease from 18% in 2019. Some 32% were found to have tried vapes in 2024 which is down from 39% in 2019. Daily use of vapes in 2024 was recorded at 7% which is up from 5% in 2019. While this shows an encouraging reduction in experimentation and current use, it is the increase in daily use which this Bill is designed to address. The European school survey also found that 3% were currently using nicotine pouches. Although this figure is low, it is important that we act now to prevent its increase. To make nicotine-inhaling products less attractive to our young people, the Bill will restrict the colours and imagery on packaging and on the devices themselves. The Bill will ban the sale of devices resembling or functioning as other products such as toys or games. This is to ensure that the Irish market does not see the evolution of these products into multi-use devices with features that would specifically attract young people. It will also restrict the flavours for sale and will prohibit all flavour descriptors and language other than basic flavour names. This is to eliminate the marketing potential of the use of child-friendly flavour names. The point-of-sale display and advertising of these products in everyday supermarkets and convenience stores will also be prohibited so that our children are not exposed to these products in their everyday life. It will also make it clear that these products are not the same as ordinary grocery goods. The European schools survey project found that nearly 4% of our 15- to 16- year-olds used nicotine pouches in the last 30 days. Evidence is not yet available on the possible effects of these products, therefore the only harm that is known is that these products contain nicotine. The Bill creates a new category of products called nicotine consumption products. This category includes pouches and any other product for the recreational consumption of nicotine, other than tobacco, nicotine inhaling products and medical products. By creating this new category, the Bill is future-proofed and any new products for the recreational consumption of nicotine will automatically fall under its provisions. Current and future nicotine consumption products will be prohibited for sale to persons under the age of 18. In addition, the display of these products at the point of sale in our general stores will be prohibited and advertising of these products in-store will be banned in all retail outlets. Regulation of the way that current and future nicotine consumption products are sold in our country can be done effectively in national law. The regulation of the products themselves would, of course, be most effective if it was introduced at EU level. A revision of the EU tobacco products directive which is the relevant EU law is long overdue. EU-wide measures on current and future nicotine-inhaling products and nicotine-consumption products would ensure that the measures in each country are supported because the ability to purchase from another member state with different product specifications would no longer exist. An evaluation report from the European Commission on the directive was recently published. The next step is the publication of a proposal for a revised directive. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and I have repeatedly called for that proposal to be published as soon as possible. I repeat that today. I am asking the European Commission to publish its plan for a revised directive as soon as possible. I also join the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, in promising that Ireland will do all that it can to progress the directive, if the proposal is received during Ireland’s Presidency of the EU. That is really important for us. This Bill was developed in recognition that most adults who use vapes formerly smoked and that some people who wish to quit smoking have used vapes as part of that attempt to quit. Unfortunately, the benefits of this approach are not showing in our population. Our smoking rates have remained at the same level since 2019 despite increases in our vaping levels. From this data, it does not appear that vaping is substituting for smoking in our population. In addition, one out of six adults who use e-cigarettes has never smoked. Research on our Healthy Ireland survey data also shows us that in 2015 the dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes was linked to a high intention to quit and attempts to quit smoking but that by 2023 this link had disappeared in all age groups. The measures in this Bill are designed to reduce our young people's use of these products while ensuring that they remain available for use by adults who smoke. The review section in the Bill and the powers for the Minister for Health to alter the list of prescribed flavours means that we can monitor the effects of the legislation and respond quickly if needed. This legislation is also proposed at the same time as significant investment in free, safe and effective stop-smoking support. Funding for the HSE quit programme has almost doubled since 2021, to over €20 million in 2025. This includes the roll-out of free stop-smoking medicines to anyone accessing the HSE quit service, with €2.9 million provided in 2025. The HSE has also recruited 48 new stop-smoking advisers and more than doubled the number of clinics in the country since 2022. This combination of medicine and behavioural support is recognised as the most effective way to quit smoking, and we will continue to look at ways to increase access to this life-saving support. We are also reviewing our national tobacco control policy to determine the best pathway to a truly tobacco-free Ireland. Before I take the House through the sections of the Bill, I would like to take this opportunity to remind us all of Ireland's obligations under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Under Article 5.3 of that convention, Ireland is required to protect its public health policy from the commercial or other vested interests of the tobacco industry. I will now take the House through the Bill to outline the content of each section. Part 1 deals with preliminary and general issues and contains sections 1 to 5. Section 1 is a standard provision for the Title, citation and commencement of the Bill. Section 2 defines terms including other Acts that are referred to in the Bill. Section 3 is a standard section that provides for the expenses incurred in the operation of the Bill. Section 4 provides for the repeal of certain sections of the Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Act 2024, which have been replaced in this Bill. Section 5 provides for a review of the operation of the provision of this Bill. Part 2 of the Bill contains sections 6 to 12 and relates to the amendment of the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002. Section 6 amends section 2 of the 2002 Act and sets out the definitions relevant to this Part. Section 7 amends section 5 of the 2002 Act on penalties to include the new offences created by this Bill. Section 8 amends section 48 of the 2002 Act to include powers in relation to nicotine consumption products into the existing powers of authorised officers of the national environmental health service. It also provides powers to ascertain details of the supply chain, market information and website ownership in order to align with the existing powers for tobacco and related products under the EU market surveillance regulations. Section 9 amends section 50 of the 2002 Act to include nicotine consumption products in the protocols for the taking of samples by authorised officers. Section 10 amends section 54 of the 2002 Act to allow the national environmental health service, the enforcement body under the Bill, to use compliance notices in relation to offences involving nicotine consumption products. Section 11 amends section 55 of the 2002 Act to allow the national environmental health service to issue prohibition notices in relation to offences involving nicotine consumption products. Section 12 provides the national environmental health service with powers to act on tobacco products and nicotine inhaling products that are compliant with tobacco control law but are deemed to present a serious risk to health. It includes powers to seize and destroy products as well as remove online content in order to eliminate serious risk. This measure is provided for under the EU tobacco products directive. Section 13 amends section 56 of the 2002 Act to include the power to issue fixed payment notices for offences in the Bill. Part 3, on amendments to the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023, includes sections 14 to 27. Section 14 provides for the definitions in this Part. Section 15 updates the EU law references in relation to the exclusion of medical devices from this tobacco control law. Section 16 adds nicotine consumption products to the existing standard provision to locate the jurisdiction of an offence. Section 17 inserts a new section 26A into the 2023 Act to prohibit the point-of-sale display of nicotine inhaling products. A retailer can provide a pictorial price list of the products for sale to a customer and display a sign indicating that the products are for sale to persons over 18, which would be the main thing. The prohibition does not apply to shops that sell nicotine inhaling products only or additionally sell only the following: nicotine consumption products, vapes, vaping substances, or accessories related to the functioning or maintenance of nicotine inhaling products or vapes. Section 18 makes it an offence to sell nicotine consumption products to a child. Section 19 amends the definition of advertising in the 2023 Act to provide for the new advertising restrictions in this Bill. Section 20 prohibits the advertising of nicotine inhaling products and nicotine consumption products in retail premises or on a website that sells these products. Section 21 inserts new Parts 3A and 3B into the 2023 Act. Part 3A regulates the appearance of a nicotine inhaling product, including that it must be of a prescribed colour and shall not contain any imagery such as cartoons or graphics. It also provides that a nicotine inhaling product cannot function as a toy or any other product. Similar measures apply to a refill container for a nicotine inhaling product. Part 3A also regulates the packaging of a nicotine inhaling product, including that it must be of a prescribed colour and not contain any imagery such as cartoons or graphics. Any outside covering of packaging and inner lining are also regulated under this Part. On flavours, a nicotine inhaling product cannot be sold with a flavour name other than those in the Schedule, which are "unflavoured" and "tobacco" flavour. Those are the two. The Minister for Health may add or remove flavour names to the Schedule, taking into account the impact of the measure and having regard to the objectives of reducing harm from tobacco products and nicotine inhaling products and prioritising the protection of health of our children. In addition, a nicotine inhaling product with a variant name that implies that it has a particular sensory characteristic or a flavour other than that described in the flavour name cannot be sold. Part 3B prohibits the point-of-sale display of nicotine consumption products. A retailer can provide a pictorial price list to the customer and display a sign saying that the products are for sale to persons over 18. The prohibition does not apply to shops that sell nicotine consumption products only or sell nicotine consumption products and-or additionally sell only nicotine inhaling products, vapes, vaping substances, or accessories related to the functioning or maintenance of nicotine inhaling products or vapes. Section 22 includes nicotine consumption products in the existing test purchasing provisions. Section 23 includes offences in relation to nicotine consumption products in information that may be published by the national environmental health service. Section 24 includes offences in this Bill in the section related to penalties. Section 25 includes nicotine consumption products in provisions in the 2023 Act regarding evidence in court proceedings. Section 26 amends section 39 of the 2023 Act to deem certain offences in this Bill as "category A" offences, which attract a longer duration of licence suspension and can lead to licence revocation. Section 27 inserts the Schedule on flavour names into the 2023 Act. Part 4 relates to miscellaneous amendments and contains sections 28 and 29 of the Bill. Section 28 amends the Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Act 2024. It is an additional amendment required along with that made at section 22 of this Bill to facilitate the test purchasing of nicotine consumption products. Section 29 amends the EU (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale of Tobacco and Related Products) Regulations 2016 to align the provisions in relation to the prohibition notice in that legislation with those in this Bill. I commend this Bill to the House.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Public Health, Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products (Amendment) Bill 2026. This is an important Bill, which is broad in scope and long overdue. For too long, policy in this area has been reactive. New products emerge, marketing tactics change and the law has lagged behind. This Bill marks an important change in approach from the Government, which we in the Opposition have sought for years. This is future-focused legislation rather than the usual catch-up and piecemeal approach we have seen over the past few years. The purpose of legislation like this should be clear. It should be to reduce smoking and it should be to protect children and young people from nicotine addiction. It should regulate products in a way that is proportionate, practical and grounded in common sense. When I test the Bill against these principles, there is a great deal in it that I can support. However, there is one significant measure that goes too far and gets the balance wrong. That is the total ban on all flavours except tobacco, despite the Bill as drafted allowing for additional flavours. The Bill does a number of important things. First, it extends regulation beyond traditional tobacco and vaping products to include nicotine consumption products, such as nicotine pouches, including a ban on sales to under-18s. That is the right thing to do and it has taken too long to get here. These products have been developing in a grey area for too long. They carry a high risk of oral and gum diseases and it is beyond time that they should be regulated properly. It is important that nicotine pouches are regulated as tightly as cigarettes and vapes in terms of packaging, naming and advertising and, obviously, we will tease this out on Committee Stage. Second, the Bill strengthens controls around nicotine inhaling products or vapes. It tightens the rules on advertising, sale and display. It restricts colours and imagery on devices and packaging and toy-like vapes, and all of this I support. These are serious interventions and they are justified. Third, the Bill strengthens enforcement. It increases fines and penalties for breaches of tobacco control law. It includes provisions dealing with serious risk products, enforcement mechanisms and appeals. It also includes a review clause requiring the operation of the amendments to be reviewed within three years. However, one part of the Bill does not sit right with me and my colleagues for a number of reasons. This is the Government's proposed ban on all flavours except tobacco. I want to be very clear that I support regulating flavours. I support banning names and marketing tactics targeted at children. The Bill prohibits flavour descriptors and language other than basic flavour names for vapes, and I think this is the right approach. However, strangely, despite allowing for different flavours, only two flavours have been included in the draft Bill, namely, tobacco or unflavoured. In plain language, that means a ban on all vape flavours except tobacco. This is not a minor issue as it goes to the heart of whether this legislation has struck the right balance between protecting children and respecting adults while also keeping sight of the central public health objective. Unfortunately, the Government has gone too far. The proposed flavour ban is an overreach into the personal decision of adults. It risks being counterproductive and enabling a black market where all of the products that we all want gone, including single-use vapes, the unsafe chemical products and the cheap imports from questionable manufacturers, will actually thrive. It reflects a simplistic view that vaping can be treated as though it is exactly the same as smoking, and that the answer to youth vaping is simply to strip vaping products of any appeal, regardless of the wider consequences. It risks drawing people back into smoking, which is the most serious issue for me and that is a very strong message I have heard from vapers. This is where I have my disagreement with the Government. Let me be very clear on what I do support. I support the regulation of nicotine consumption products, including nicotine pouches. These products should not sit outside the law. They should be regulated and they should not be sold to children. I support the prohibition on the sale to under-18s. Children should not be able to buy nicotine products, end of story. That should not be controversial. What is controversial is that the Government was far too slow to act in the first place. It took years to ban the sale of vapes to children, or to ban colourful, single-use vapes. I support the restrictions on advertising and on point of sale display and putting these products behind the counter and out of sight in mixed-retail units. I support tighter controls on packaging, imagery, colours and device design, particularly where these things are clearly aimed at attracting children and teenagers. I support measures to stop the production and sale of devices that resemble toys or games or that are effectively gamified nicotine products. This is reprehensible and indefensible and it is, if we are being honest, a blatant attempt to hook children and young people and of course that should be stopped. I support stronger penalties and stronger enforcement powers. Laws mean very little if they cannot be enforced and we have been here before in different areas in relation to that. Anyone who sells vapes or cigarettes or nicotine products to children or who ignores age restrictions or breaks display rules or flouts advertising rules should, of course, face real and heavy consequences. I support the broader approach in the Bill because it is intended to future-proof regulation rather than forcing the State to scramble after every new product category that comes onto the market. Let us be honest about the problem we are trying to solve. There has been a sharp and a deeply worrying rise in vaping among young people, including many who never smoked and were never nicotine dependent before. That trend is real. It is serious and requires intervention but it also requires honesty about how we got here. The Government was far too slow to ban the sale of vapes to under-18s. It was far too slow to tackle aggressive youth-targeted marketing, and children were exposed to brightly coloured packaging, open retail displays and products designed to look like novelty items. We should not now pretend that every problem can be traced back to flavours alone. This brings me to what I believe should happen instead of what has been proposed by the Government. My position is that the range of flavours should be limited to a small number of standard flavours under purely descriptive names. This is what they have done in New Zealand where vape flavours must be from a list under seven categories. I think the list in New Zealand is a bit too long and I would support a very tight list of a handful of flavours. That is a proportionate alternative. We have to recognise the rights of adults to make decisions for themselves. It also requires acknowledgement of the very significant difference in harm between smoking and vaping, and it addresses the legitimate concern that childish, novelty-based flavouring systems can be used to target young people, because the reality is many adults who vape are also former smokers. The central public health question should always be whether policy helps move people away from smoking, which remains far more harmful, or whether it makes that transition more difficult. If we reduce vaping to tobacco flavour only, we may well reduce its appeals relative to cigarettes, and I think that is a real risk. If the effect of this measure is to push some people back towards smoking, or to stop some smokers switching in the first place, then that is a serious mistake. This Bill should start with a limited number of flavours and if after all the measures have been implemented we do not see progress, of course, we can always review what is being done. There is another practical problem with the Government's approach because flavoured vapes and components for mixing liquids at home are readily available online. They will continue to be available online, even if they are banned in this State. We can pass laws but we cannot legislate away the Internet. Therefore, a blanket ban is likely to inconvenience law-abiding adults and legitimate retailers while creating an opening for a black market which means unregulated, low quality and potentially unsafe products. I do not believe that is smart public health policy. A ban is always an easy tool to reach for. It sounds clean and decisive and there are times, of course, when a ban is the right approach. The sale of nicotine products to children should be banned. Aggressive marketing tactics aimed at children should be banned. Devices made to look like toys should be banned but the same logic does not justify banning all flavours except tobacco for adults. To reduce youth vaping we need effective age verification at the point of sale, backed up by strong penalties for those who break the rules. We need to ban the advertising of these products, ban child-focused packaging and stamp out the marketing tactics that prey on children and teenagers. We need to keep these products out of sight, behind the counter where adults who are trying to quit smoking can still access them but where they are not pushed in front of every person who walks into the shop. We need the HSE and enforcement authorities to up their game. The Minister of State should not reach for a blunt instrument where a more proportionate tool is available. This Bill contains a great deal that is necessary and overdue. I support those measures I outlined earlier but I cannot support the blanket ban on flavours. I have put forward what I believe is a much more proportionate path. That path is to protect children, to respect adults, to make sure that we reduce the incidence of smoking and vaping, and to keep public health policy anchored in common sense.

I sometimes wonder if this Government has the ability not to make a mess of everything. This Bill should be the most uncontroversial legislation to come before this House because there is political unanimity that children should not have access to vaping products, that there should be strong penalties for those who allow children access to such products, and that we should completely ban products that are clearly designed to appeal to children. That is the Bill that should have come before this House. Such robust provisions are required and there would have been political unanimity on them. Of course, as always, Government has made a mess of it by adding a provision that will only damage law-abiding adults, that is, the ban on the use of flavours in vapes. There is a point that needs to be recognised. I know a lot of people just do not like vaping and they are entitled to that view but, for many people, there has never been a more successful route away from smoking. The figures back that up. Between 2004 and 2019, the number of smokers in this State has reduced drastically. There are a number of different reasons for that but one has been the evolution of vaping products. Some people will say that vaping products are dangerous themselves but nobody will convince me that they are more dangerous than smoking. It is therefore the least worst option for many people. What the Government is now doing in suggesting a ban on all non-tobacco-flavoured vaping products could be one of the only measures that any government has brought forward that actually reverses the trend of reducing smoking rates that we have seen. I agree with a huge part, probably 90%, of this Bill. I believe that every sane adult in the country will support those measures. I refer to the mechanisms to ensure that children do not have access to nicotine products. The Minister of State has my full support on those. She should bank that and move forward in a united and cohesive way so that would be locked in. She should drop the mechanism that is clearly going to be divisive, that will lead to frustration and that will act to deter people from moving away from smoking or, in some cases, as a rationale to move back to smoking. It is time for Government to stop making a mess of things. It should not make a mess of legislation that should have the full support not only of this House but of every rational adult in the State.

I can guarantee the Minister of State two things. The first is that every single TD in this Chamber has lost a friend, family member or neighbour as a direct result of smoking. The second is that every one of us also knows several people who have quit smoking with the help of vaping, friends or family members whose lives have changed. I am almost certain that almost all of them used the very flavoured vapes the Government is now proposing to ban. Banning flavoured vapes would be a complete own goal in our fight to reduce the number of smokers in Ireland. All the Government would succeed in doing is pushing people back into the grip of the tobacco industry or driving them towards unregulated online platforms where there is little to no oversight on safety, age verification or quality control. Let us look at the figures. The numbers are overwhelming. Some 73% of vapers say that fruit flavours play a key role in helping them stay off cigarettes. Some 49% would actively source flavoured vapes online or from abroad if a ban were introduced. A total of 72% believe that a ban would lead to more young people taking up smoking rather than fewer and 71% believe that banning flavours would push current vapers back towards deadly tobacco products. These are not my opinions but the views of the ordinary people whose interests we are here to represent. I have to ask whether the Minister of State and her Department even looked at what is happening in other jurisdictions that have banned flavoured vapes because it has not been a beaming success. The result has been a boom in illegal trading and an unregulated black market. This measure will not eliminate demand; it will just drive it underground. Much of this Bill is sound, a positive step and, frankly, long overdue. How it has taken so long to prohibit the use of nicotine products by under-18s is beyond me. The changes around advertising and the restrictions on the colour and styling of these products are positive and welcome steps but banning all flavours is a step too far. It is a complete overreach by this Government into the actions and decisions of consenting adults. What will be next? Are we to ban cider because it tastes of apples and might appeal to teenagers? Will we ban fruit-flavoured alcohol drinks? Tackling colour, style and marketing, as the Government is already doing, will reduce the appeal to young people. That is a sound tactic. However, we should not throw out the very tool that has helped thousands of Irish adults escape a lethal addiction. Vaping has taken us far in reducing smoking rates but that progress has stalled. The rate is no longer declining as it should. We need to be looking for the next tool to bring down that number. The cost of smoking to our health service in healthcare costs and to our society in thousands of preventable deaths is still staggering.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation on vapes. For too long, we have allowed a wild west situation to arise because of a simple lack of regulation. We all want to see a reduction in smoking rates but we also want to see proper and real regulations on vaping. For too long, mixed retail units selling vapes have been popping up in every town and village across our State. As I have said in the House before, if you walk through Clondalkin village, you will see kids in their school uniforms going into these shops and buying vapes. Kids are attracted to the bright advertising and the fancy lights and go in as they walk by. I welcome the fact that the legislation before us today seeks to address advertising. This Bill should also regulate the names of flavours. There is no argument about that at all. I will point out that there is a difference between these mixed retail units that are selling vapes and the vape-only shops. At least the vape-only shops self-regulate and have experience in age verification. I can see in my own area that there is no age verification in these mixed retail units. As I have said, young kids in school uniforms are able to get vapes. At least those shops you see in the bottom of Tesco or in booths operate some sort of self-regulation. According to research I have here, there are 8,500 adult vapers in Dublin Mid-West. Of those, 7,000 were previously smokers. That is 7,000 fewer smokers than there were before. This legislation on flavours will only push those 7,000 vapers back into smoking. There are people in my own circle of friends and family who no longer smoke but vape. As I would say if they were here in front of me, if I had a choice, I would rather they did neither, but they are adults and are able to make their own decisions. To limit the flavours to tobacco only simply will not work. It risks pushing adults back into smoking. It could also create an illegal black market that organised criminals will exploit for their own gain. It has not worked in other jurisdictions. As I have said, I do not have an issue with restricting the fancy names of flavours but banning flavours is a step too far. The range of flavours should be limited to a small number of standard flavours, which should purely fit under descriptive names. As was said by Deputy Cullinane, this was done in New Zealand where the government limited it to seven flavours. Sinn Féin is open to limiting it to less than that if that is what the Minister of State wants, but we cannot just go into this legislation focused on tobacco only. I am glad that the Government included Sinn Féin's suggestion to prohibit the sale of nicotine consumption products, such as pouches, to those under 18. It is something that we have raised numerous times. We also have to make sure that this legislation is robust enough so that any other new tobacco product that comes online can be included in it. I also ask the Minister of State to reconsider the reduction of flavours for vapes.

The Labour Party welcomes this Bill but part of me wonders how it has taken long. This Government has moved at a snail's pace on the regulation of vaping and nicotine inhaling products. When we look at what this Bill is trying to do, the Labour Party agrees with most sections. However, we have concerns with the pace at which the Government has moved and the comprehensiveness of this Bill. The reality is that the sale of nicotine pouches has rocketed from 6 million pouches in 2023 to 29 million in 2024, and what product will come online next year? I had correspondence from someone today about nicotine toothpicks that are coming on stream. There is a concern about to what extent we are hardwiring all future nicotine products into this legislation. I acknowledge there is a proposal relating to this, but we need to strengthen that. There are two key issues for the Labour Party. The first is regarding the availability of sale. As other colleagues have alluded to, vapes are freely available in many locations with very poor or no age verification, particularly in supermarkets. There is also an argument to be had about the role of vape shops. There is certainly an argument to be had about the number of vape shops but that is a separate zoning argument relating to desirability. The standards are probably higher is some vape shops relative to others. When we look at the discussions taking place in Australia where the sale of vapes is only through pharmacies now, we need to look at the whole discussion about where vapes can be purchased. We would favour much tighter legislation on the sale of vapes. In terms of the discussion on flavours, I am quite struck that the WHO has made the point that flavours are fuelling a new wave of addiction. It is particularly telling in the arguments about the extent to which we need to restrict vape flavours. The range of flavours has hugely increased the attractiveness of vaping over the past number of years but the figures regarding smoking cessation speak for themselves. The decrease in tobacco cigarette use has slowed in recent years almost in perfect parallel with the rise in vaping. There is an argument that if we start banning flavours, we will see an increase in smoking, but we are already seeing that. In the UK in particular, there are certainly studies that show that if 17-year-old children do not already vape, the probability of them taking up smoking is 1.5% but for those who do vape the figure rises to a staggering 33%. A 17-year-old who vapes is as likely to start smoking as their peers in the 1970s. We have to look at the role of flavours in that. The Labour Party has a huge concern about the range of flavours that are available. Sinn Féin commented on differentiating between adults and children, but of course the reality is that if it is available for adults, children will get their hands on it. We will be supporting the sections on the flavours. Ultimately, my biggest issue in all of this relates to how we are co-ordinating at an EU level because Ireland, as a small country, is up against big tobacco and big business. In terms of the priorities for the Government coming into the Presidency for the second six months of this year, public health and vaping as a public health issue need to be on that agenda because while the research is not conclusive at this point in time, there are significant concerns within the medical world about the potential physical and mental health impacts of vaping. That is why we favour strong regulations around vaping at this point in time and are hugely aware about who exactly is very much driving demand in this country. It is big tobacco and big business, and we need to co-ordinate at a European level to ensure that people are not lured back into smoking or into vaping unnecessarily.

I welcome this long overdue legislation to further regulate vapes and to finally regulate nicotine pouches. As has repeatedly been the case with these new nicotine pouches, regulation arrives too late. The use of vapes and nicotine pouches has surged with a new generation increasingly dependent on nicotine. The Minister of Health and her predecessors have not shown the level of urgency required with a piecemeal approach to regulation that is consistently behind the curve. It took the previous Minister of Health, Stephen Donnelly, until the very end of 2023 to ban the sale of vapes to under 18s. While welcome, this was hardly bold policymaking. At the time, most people assumed that the sale of vapes to under 18s had already been prohibited and understandably so, and even the bare minimum interventions failed to include nicotine pouches. Only now is that finally addressed in this legislation, two and a half years later. This is despite the fact that my colleague, Deputy Whitmore, has been raising this with Government for years. In 2024, two years ago, a European School Survey Project found that 4% of 15- to 16-year-olds in Ireland were using nicotine pouches with 8% having used them at some point. Why has there been such reluctance to act decisively? For years, we have had more than just compelling anecdotal evidence, we have had the data. When it comes to banning disposables, the pace of change has even been slower. It took the Government until December last year to finally introduce that legislation, and although it has passed all Stages in the Dáil, we are still waiting for it to pass through the Seanad. I appreciate that a six-month notification process must be followed and that the delay is out of the Government's hands but the process should have commenced years ago, not just last December. Stephen Donnelly talked about his intentions to ban disposable vapes as far back as November 2023. He eventually secured Government approval to move forward with the ban in September 2024, and that was after two rounds of public consultations, one run by the Department of Health and the other by the then Department of Environment, Climate and Communications. Why is there always such hesitation when it comes to progressing vape regulation? There is strong talk but no substance for action even though we know that children are being targeted by the tobacco industry. When it is passed, the Bill before us will finally deal with the tobacco industry's concerted efforts to manufacture vapes that appeal to children. This is welcome, although again long overdue. We know from Central Statistics Office data that 7% of adults in Ireland vape daily, most of whom are current smokers or ex-smokers. The real concern, however, is that vaping rates among children are much higher at double that of the general population. A WHO study of school going children in Ireland found that 13% of 12- to 17-year-olds are currently vapers having vaped in the previous 30 days. Another study conducted by the European School Survey Project on alcohol and other drugs found that 16% of 15- to 16-year-olds in Ireland currently vape. When young adults, many of whom started vaping in their teens, are included, the number is even worse. According to the most recent Healthy Ireland survey, 17% of 15- to 24-year-olds report daily or occasional vape use. This should not be news to anyone. Just look at any of our cities, towns our villages. This Government and its predecessor have sleepwalked us into a youth vaping crisis with its lacklustre approach to regulation. While available evidence indicates that vaping is safer than smoking, the long-term impacts are yet to be understood. We do know that vaping is not risk-free. According to the HSE, the short-term impacts of vaping include nicotine dependence, sleep problems, mental health difficulties, such as anxiety, damage to heart, lung and blood vessels and exposure to toxins. Children are thought to be at even more risk, with the HSE citing particular concerns around attention and learning, mood, impulse control and anxiety. Vaping causes real harm. It is, therefore, welcome that the Bill provides for a ban on vapes that resemble toys and games because the manufacturing of vapes designed to appeal to children must be one of the tobacco industry's most despicable moves of late. It must be repeated again and again that a considerable share of the vape market in Ireland and globally is controlled by the tobacco industry. These companies recognised the shift away from cigarettes and moved quickly to exploit it, adopting their business model to recruit a new generation of nicotine dependent customers to feed their profits. The products and branding may have changed, but the companies have not. Marlboro and PJ Carroll have already diversified into vape products. The disposable brands that have captured the Irish market, namely Elf Bar and Lost Mary, are produced by ambiguous Chinese companies. According to the Irish Heart Foundation, evidence indicates that China's vape market is now overseen by the state's national tobacco corporation and the state tobacco monopoly administration. It does not end with vaping. Big tobacco is also driving the surge in nicotine pouch use, another product being aggressively and cynically marketed to young people. Last August, the Irish Cancer Society reported that big tobacco took centre stage at several festivals and concerts across the country, heavily promoting highly addictive nicotine pouches at festivals like Electric Picnic and Altogether Now. It is unsurprising that the tobacco industry has turned to vapes and other novel nicotine products to safeguard its profits. Not only do vapes mitigate against falling cigarette sales, they offer tobacco companies other significant benefits, including larger profits through lower taxation, the opportunity to circumvent tobacco legislation, such as marketing flavoured brands, preventing the loss of customers who quit cigarettes by getting them to switch to vapes and attracting new customers who would not have started smoking cigarettes in the first place. Thankfully, the Bill and other measures will call a halt to many of the benefits for big tobacco, at least domestically. The most sinister and under-reported benefit for tobacco companies has been the opportunity to have a seat at the table again through funding research and the promotion of vapes as harm reduction products. I fear this argument is a Trojan horse, allowing the tobacco industry back into the conversation and giving it access to policymakers, albeit not directly. As I have said, the evidence indicates vaping is less harmful than cigarettes. The harm reduction argument is made when it comes to those trying to commit smoking, but the tobacco industry is not genuinely interested in harm reduction. It is only interested in creating addiction. That is why all of us need to examine the harm reduction argument critically, consider who is making it and, critically, who is funding it. We must not just accept this at face value. The connection between Philip Morris International, the producers of Marlboro, and the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World has been exposed in recent years. The Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, which has since rebranded, was said to have the stated aim of ending smoking in this generation. In 2023, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners described the foundation as nothing more than a fig leaf for Philip Morris's real business, namely nicotine addiction. Between 2019 and 2021, the world's largest tobacco company contributed over €160 million to the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. During this period, less than 1% of the foundation's revenue came from other sources. As of 2023, the foundation has financed more than 70 academic papers on topics including vapes and rates of smoking cessation. In 2024, the UK Royal College of Physicians said tobacco company funded research accounted for a significant proportion of the science on new nicotine products and harm reduction approaches. It went on to raise serious concerns about the quality and veracity of that research. That is something we all need to be cautious about and careful of when making these arguments. We need to know exactly who is funding much of the research that is being put out there. I would like to make a few points on the provisions of the Bill. I welcome the advertising ban on vape and nicotine pouches, the restrictions on displays and the introduction of plain packaging for vapes. The packaging and display of these products should be treated in the same way as tobacco, namely out of sight and in closed containers behind shop counters. Pick-and-mix style displays of vapes has gone on for too long. I am, however, concerned that the plain packaging rules and flavour name restrictions will not apply to nicotine pouches. That seems short-sighted. Why is the Minister repeating the mistakes of the past? Inevitably, we will be back in the House rehashing this debate in a couple of years. On the question of flavours, I am glad the regulation is finally being advanced. This was recommended by the health committee as far back as 2022, when the committee had a Sinn Féin Chair, and had cross-party support. There can be no justification for the array of flavours currently available, most of which are clearly designed to entice children. However, the approach taken would regulate flavour names rather than the flavours themselves. According to the Library and Research Service, the understanding is that this approach would be easier to implement rather than one which restricts certain ingredients or sensory attributes. I would be interested in hearing more from the Minister of State on the reasons for this approach and the research carried out by the Department to support this view. This may well be the best approach, in particular from an enforcement point of view, but it would be beneficial if she could provide Members with a briefing note, in particular in advance of Committee Stage. I would also appreciate if she could provide further information regarding the decision to restrict flavour names to just two options, namely tobacco and unflavoured. Specifically, I would like to know whether the Department considered the inclusion of menthol or mint, as flagged in previous debates, and what the update is on that. This is where the line should be drawn. The suggestion that was made on the floor of the House that banning vapes is like banning cider because it tastes like apples is a ridiculous argument and one that should not be entertained. Finally, I would like to again restate the support of the Social Democrats for the Bill. We have long called for measures to address the alarming increase in vapes and nicotine pouch use, in particular among children and young people. It has been clear for some time that we need to address the normalisation of these products and treat them in a similar manner to cigarettes. I have no doubt that the new restrictions will be unpopular with many, but history will look favourably on these important public health measures. I commend the Bill.

We welcome the Bill. I am speaking as someone who has children, although they are not all children any more, and has worked with young people over the past 20 or 30 years. Anything we can do to ensure we continue to address addiction to nicotine is most welcome. First there were cigarettes and there was a big debate about how we could reduce their use. Harm reduction came along and we had vapes. We now have nicotine pouches. The big business that is the nicotine industry is delighted with itself in marketing these products to keep people addicted to them for as long as it can. An untold amount of people's health is affected by nicotine in this country and around the world. We can see the effects of that every day. I have spoken about this issue a couple of times in the Chamber. I have spoken about teenagers, who will always go against the tide and have the ability to rebel. I was definitely one such teenager and I have known quite a few in my time as a youth worker and through my involvement as a school completion programme, and as a parent. The way vapes are advertised and marketed to young people is genius. The companies make them appealing. If I were that age, I would definitely have been vaping and would have thought it looked great. That is what makes vaping even more evil. Companies are targeting young people. They know exactly what they are doing. Vapes can be matched to what people are wearing. Given the taste of vapes, it is no wonder that people are addicted to them. When I listened to the debate in my office, I was a little concerned that people would push back against the ban on flavours. When I speak to young people, they tell me vapes are only watermelon, lime or whatever - I am sure they do not think lime is great. They are flavours that are nice and therefore they do not see the harm in them. There are harms. Nicotine is an addictive substance. My parliamentary assistant came to work and walked along Grafton Street. She was offered a free packet of nicotine pouches - I will not name the company. It made me wonder why they are being handed out. As previous Deputies have said, they are being handed out everywhere, including at concerts. This is how companies are promoting the next product they can get people addicted to. First it was cigarettes, then vapes and now it is the pouches. I am sure companies are thinking of the next product after this. It is not good enough. While we cannot pre-empt what that next product will be with this legislation, we need to pre-empt being lobbied by these companies, which do nothing except create detrimental health outcomes for young people and adults. I will be glad when disposable vapes are banned. They are a detriment to the person using them. With regard to the rechargeable vapes, there is a little black wire in each one. How many of those wires are hanging around the place? In 2019, this Chamber said we were in a climate emergency. We were the second country in the world to do that. Having disposable vapes with tiny wires in them for recharging does not help in any way towards mitigating against the global climate disaster that is upon us. I will give a warning to those who are going to email after this: please do not lobby me because the answer is “No”. I am not interested. I am speaking on behalf of mothers around the country who contacted me asking for something to be done so their children are not targeted in this way. Some Deputies will talk about adults but, having worked with children and young people, I will always put them first. This legislation must be about protecting them now and into the future. I ask lobbyists not to contact me. I am not interested in their products that will harm young people and adults. Please do not send me emails. I received emails the last few times I have spoken in this Chamber about vapes and I am not interested. The last time I spoke on this issue, parents contacted me who were very thankful I used my voice to speak about what they too are saying. Young people are using the little money they have to go into shops to be sold those vapes. Although these products are not supposed to be sold to people under 18, they are being sold. They should not be sold but they are. I recall talking to a beautician who said that she can see young people coming in and their skin is in bits. She said she knows who is and is not vaping because of their skin. I could go on with the examples forever. I am speaking quite emotively because I feel so passionately about this. We would not allow this to happen in any other way to our children and young people. We have banned alcohol, rightly, for those under 18 and whatever way nicotine was allowed is also banned now. We need to clamp down hard. On the last occasion I spoke on this issue, I was delighted to read in the newspaper just before I entered the Chamber that people were prosecuted for it. Long may that last because it is not supposed to be done and it should not happen. I thank the Minister of State for bringing this Bill forward.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this positive legislation. Well done to the Minister of State for leading it in her Department. She has hit the ground running. I will make a few points. First, regulating nicotine products is essential. This is reminiscent of the time of the smoking ban, led at the time by the then Minister for Health and current Taoiseach. There were protests at that time. It could have been around the time of the 2009 local elections in which I was a candidate. The Minister of State may have been a candidate then as well. It was hot on the doors and it became apparent very quickly that it was a popular measure. People realised they could go to their coffee spot, restaurant or bar and have an enjoyable evening without going home reeking of tobacco for the next few days and having to fling their jacket on the clothes line to freshen it up again. That was a positive measure. Of course, products have changed utterly since then. I only recently became aware of nicotine pouches; maybe I have been living in a cave. I thought they were little packets of loose tobacco, but they are not. A lot of kids are bringing them into schools, certainly at secondary level. The sooner we curb that, the better. I am glad there are some strict age restrictions built into this legislation. That is certainly a good thing. One issue I mentioned privately to the Minister of State over recent months is how some of these products are sold on the high street in mixed retail units. When I am out and about with my children, they are drawn to the American candy stores. While there are American candy, phone cases and phone chargers in those stores, there is also a whole wall of vape juices, vapes and disposable vapes. It is immoral to have those positioned alongside sweets and candy, which are very much marketed for young people, particularly candy that has come from overseas intended to lure children into the shop in the first place. I know this measure is in the legislation. The sooner it is prohibited, the better. Some people who work in the retail sphere say that limiting flavours should not happen, but I think it should. It has become a novel thing. Tobacco was tobacco for centuries. I think it was Sir Walter Raleigh who brought it to these shores, although I am open to correction in that regard. It has been the same product for years. The only difference is how it was rolled into cigarettes or sold over generations. Vapes have changed utterly in the past seven or eight years, however. People first told us they were a wonderful way to wean smokers of cigarettes, but they very quickly took over, with all these liquids and fruit-flavoured vapes. The vape off them is vile. While I began by saying that people cannot smoke in public places, there is no cut and dried rule when it comes to vaping in public spaces. I get the train to the Dáil every week. People cannot vape on the train because Iarnród Éireann has rules around it. In other spaces, however, people can vape. I recently received an email from a constituent who was shocked to see people vaping at a bingo event. They presumed it all came under the one Act but it does not. We need to go further in this regard. I do not believe such a provision is in this legislation. We need to go further and ban vaping in public spaces. It is quite disgusting for people to have a plume of awful, rotten vape blown across their face just as they are about to tuck into a lovely meal. It is passive so it cannot be avoided. People slugging drinks all night can be avoided, but a vape cannot be avoided and it goes into people’s lungs. Some of the retailers have also made the point that counterfeit vape juices are being sold online. They are being brought over the Border and coming from other jurisdictions. Retailers are finding it quite difficult. They are willing to adhere to the laws that are coming down the tracks but they make the point that people occasionally call to their shops and tell retailers they have the product they need, but they must pay cash for it. We need to watch that sphere, as well as the online space. We need to watch how these products come in from overseas in larger quantities than they should. Our Customs and Excise people need to be more watchful of that. In my remaining time, I will raise another issue that I think falls within the remit of this debate. I hope the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will allow it. The Minister of State and I have had many chats about foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, FASD, in the past. It is also something we should be concerned about from a public health point of view. At the moment, all of the good people working with FASD Ireland, which happens to be headquartered in my constituency of Clare, are in Canada, where there is a world conference. Ireland is an outlier nation because we are one of the few nations that does not recognise FASD. Yet, there is a belief among practitioners and people who are experts in the field of FASD that Ireland could be among the most prevalent nations for this particular disorder. Of course, it is linked to the consumption of alcohol at the time a mother is pregnant. We thought it was just linear like that but now it has been proven scientifically that if the male is also consuming alcohol at the time of egg fertilisation and sexual intercourse, it can impact how the embryo develops from its early stage. It is something we need to recognise as a disability. We continue to be outliers in this country. I hope we can change the status quo in that regard. It is a little taboo because by diagnosing a child, adolescent or adult with FASD, we are basically saying that, at a certain time, the mother or father were on the bottle and, as a consequence, the child now has FASD. It is taboo but as a nation we have to be more mature about alcohol and many other issues. We need to own up to it. I thank the Minister of State for everything she is doing. Hopefully, some of my suggestions can be taken on board tonight.

I am pleased to support the Bill, which will prohibit the sale of nicotine consumption products and the advertisement of nicotine inhaling products, particularly in retail outlets. It will deal with the point-of-sale display in mixed retail outlets. The colour and imagery of nicotine inhaling products will be restricted and the sale of the devices or the functioning of other products, such as toys and games, will be prohibited, as will all flavour descriptors and language other than the basic flavour names. The flavours in nicotine inhaling products will be limited to tobacco, or be unflavoured. I say all of that because, for many years, each different generation has been targeted by the nicotine industry, for want of a better word. Vaping and nicotine pouches are the latest version of that attempt by the nicotine industry to target young people. I am entirely supportive of the measures in the Bill. I commend the Minister of State on her efforts to help curb the continued marketisation of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products, especially towards the younger cohort. This is a clear public health issue. It is one that my colleagues in Fianna Fáil have been consistent in addressing. My colleague mentioned the workplace and indoor smoking ban in 2004. There has been a consistent approach since then to tackle both the tobacco and nicotine industry. I welcome that this Bill will prohibit the sale of nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches. As my colleague said, it is something that I had not aware of until recently. Many parents with teenagers know too well the dangers of these products, particularly regarding their ease of access and how easily they can be consumed. Every generation has gone through some sort of targeting by tobacco and nicotine industry. I recognise that vaping is one element dealt in this Bill and that nicotine pouches and the related products follow very closely behind it. I commend the Minister of State on including them in the Bill. These products are currently advertised through mixed retail outlets. In effect, this has created another draw factor at the till in many local or small specialised shops. Essentially, what is happening is it is attracting people who would not smoke or consider tobacco. That is not an accident; it is by design. It is marketing. They are trying to increase their market share. We are preventing an industry from doing that. It can be uncomfortable using the language of "preventing an industry" because often I would be somebody who would support businesses, job creation and so on but we are dealing here with the sale of an addictive product. We know from studying addiction that addiction changes the reward systems in one's brain. While the first time one consumes an addictive product, it is a free chose. It is something that one considers. After that, each time the addiction and the patterns of addiction limits one's own personal choices. That is something that I am very strongly supportive of in terms of the issue of illegal drugs. It has its application here in the sale of nicotine products. I wish to speak to a number of issues. In a similar way to single use vape products, the colours and imagery as well as their often playful or jovial depictions are another way for the industry to lure and attract people in. I look forward on Committee Stage to further examining the approach the Minister of State has taken which is essentially to limit the descriptor. It would be quite difficult to quantify or describe the products or flavour. I imagine environmental health will have a significant role in terms of monitoring how the legislation is implemented. I note the Minister of State has limited it to two descriptors - those being tobacco flavour or unflavoured. I note the comments from other people regarding the word "menthol". In essence if the vape is not menthol and unflavoured, then it should not have a descriptor that is not correct. There is an argument that it is used to prevent people from smoking tobacco. That is incredibly true and it has a role. In evidence we have seen that while cigarette usage has flatlined, the consumption of vaping products has increased. If these were solely an alternative or diversion from tobacco, we would see tobacco consumption decrease and vaping increase. That is not what we are seeing. We are seeing new people taking up these products. The Minister of State's measures here are a way to prevent young people being targeted by an industry that for decades has sought to sell them a product that is addictive. I commend her on the work that she is doing.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate. We can all agree that the hallmark, and the calling card, of big tobacco and big tobacco companies is their deep pockets and their seemingly endless supply of marketing budgets. It is for that reason that I distrust a significant amount of what is termed as "evidence" that has been emailed to me this week in relation to vaping and vaping products, with people who are in the pocket of big tobacco telling me how harmless they are. When someone is telling me that over and over again, that makes me pause. That said, we could all say the same thing about alcohol but we have agreed as a State that 18 years old is where the cut off is and after that point, you make your own decisions. There has to be an element of us being sensible about this. I say that as a former very committed smoker. I can say with my hand on my heart that I enjoyed every single one of them. It was torture to give up smoking but I am glad that I did every single day. It will be 20 years next January. I am glad that I did but that does not take away from the fact that I absolutely enjoyed every single one. When I had access to them as a young child - I should not have had access to them - they were single cigarettes that I could buy with a packet of matches. That is probably evidence of how old I am. Anything that acts an entry for children into that world of smoking, nicotine and tobacco consumption needs to be closed off. I can safely say that as a 12- and 13-year-old had I not been able to buy a single cigarette in the shop for 8 pence or 10 pence, then I definitely would not have been in a position to smoke. When we say that these products are not for over 18s, we need be very clear about the damage that these products can do. That said, there are many people in my own family and community who tell me that being able to use the vape was a significant element in them being able to give up smoking. That cannot be ignored. That does not mean that we say the vapes are the be all and end all. I agree that we need to regulate where they are used. I do not like someone blowing vape smoke into my face. I do not know what is in it. If they want to take it, that is fine but I do not like it. We need to have a bit more regulation around it. When we are on a train, bus or plane, etc., it is very obvious as there are signs up. However, in some areas there is a bit of a grey area. We need to make sure that is regulated for the benefit of everybody. In the run in to this debate, I was contacted by many parents. It is really hard to fathom this. Their big worry is that their children will start with vapes because of easy accessibility. The intention is to do reduce that. The concern is that they will move from vapes into cigarette smoking. When I see adults with a vape, I know they are not going back to traditional cigarettes. They are trying to put a bit of distance between them and traditional cigarettes but idea that children will start vaping and then move on to smoking cigarettes is a big concern for parents. They want to make sure their children are protected from these harmful intoxicants, because that is what they are, but that there is work done to ensure they do not regress to being cigarette smokers.

As both a doctor and TD, I wish to be very clear about what we are dealing with here. This is not a minor trend. This is the early stage of a new addiction epidemic. In Ireland today, one in three students has tried vaping and one in six is a current user. Among the under-25s, 11% are regularly e-cigarettes users, which is the highest of any age group. Most worrying of all, the majority of young people who vape have never smoked previously. The idea that vaping is simply helping people quit smoking does not hold up in reality. For many young people, it is the starting point. We are also seeing an explosive growth in newer nicotine products. Nicotine pouch sales in Ireland increased almost five-fold in a single year from 6 million to 29 million units. That represents a 442% increase in revenue with one brand alone taking nearly half the market. These are not niche products. They are scaling rapidly, largely outside the regulatory framework that governs tobacco. I cannot stress enough that nicotine is not harmless. It raises heart rate and blood pressure. It disrupts brain development in adolescents, affecting concentration, learning and impulse control. It is linked to anxiety, sleep disturbance and long-term dependency. Vaping itself is not risk free. Emerging evidence shows clear associations with cardiovascular disease, chronic lung conditions and asthma. We are seeing measurable damage to blood vessels and inflammatory responses that we do not fully understand. People who both vape and smoke are at even greater risk, so while vaping may be less harmful than smoking, it is not safe, particularly not for young people. We also need to be honest about how we got here. This did not happen by accident. Products were deliberately designed to appeal to children, with bright colours, sweet flavours and packaging that mimic sweets, desserts and even toys. Research shows that young people recognises this themselves - that vaping products are more appealing than cigarettes because they look and feel like treats. When we add to that the lower cost, the easy concealment and the constant online promotion, it is no surprise that the uptake is rising. This legislation is a direct response to that reality. It will ban the sale of nicotine products to under-18s, remove advertising and the point-of-sale displays, restrict packaging and imagery, and limit flavours that are clearly designed to attract young users. It also addresses new and emerging products like nicotine pouches so that we are not constantly trying to play catch-up with the tobacco industry. That matters because one of the biggest mistakes in public health is allowing industry innovation to outpace regulation. We have seen that previously with tobacco and we know the consequences. In Ireland today, smoking still kills about 100 people every week and leads to more than 1,000 hospitalisations. Half of all long-term smokers will die from tobacco-related diseases. We have spent decades trying to reduce those numbers. We cannot allow a new pathway to nicotine addiction to undo that progress. This is not about banning everything; it is about protecting children from products designed to hook them. It is about ensuring that what looks harmless or appealing is not allowed to quietly cause long-term harm. It is about being proactive not reactive. I commend the Minister on that. From both a medical and public policy perspective, this legislation is necessary, proportionate and overdue. I support it fully.

This Bill is very welcome. It is very clear. The intention of it is something that I fully and totally support. It is very clear from a public policy perspective that we must do everything we can to protect children from nicotine addiction. That is what is intended here. It is set out very clearly. Last year, girls going to the debs were trying to get vapes to match the colour of their dresses. That is the mentality we have to try to deal with. I welcome the proposals within this legislation to deal with the colour of vapes and the fact that they almost look like little toys. They are attractive in particular to younger people and children. We have a body of work to do to ensure the vast majority of people understand the danger. Of course there are people who smoke and who use vapes to get off smoking. We must recognise and acknowledge that vapes have a role to play as a means of progressing that. That is generally in the adult population - hopefully. We recognise the work that has been done to try to bring this Bill forward and to make it as proportionate as possible to deal with these issues. The flavours are another issue involved in it as well. I refer to bubblegum flavour and other such flavours. Again, that is to make it more attractive to children. That is something that badly needs to be addressed and banned. The notion of banning all flavours, in particular for adults, is something I would encourage the Minister to re-examine and to consider from an adult perspective. That is something that needs to be considered because we do not want a situation where we bring in something to deal with children's health that may, in effect, mean that adults would probably prefer to smoke cigarettes rather than using vapes, when we know that vapes are not as dangerous. There is a little bit of work to be done there. I welcome anything that can be done in respect of that. The reality is that addiction to whatever substance it may be is a huge problem for society. Often it is nicotine. A lot of children are drinking too much as well. We have issues with alcohol use. Alcohol has been a huge problem in Irish society, not just for decades but for generations. In this country we seem to have a set of people who have particularly addictive personalities. That is something we all recognise and understand. It is something that seems to be in the Irish psyche. The more education and awareness people have, and the earlier we realise that it is a trait in Irish society that we have to deal with, the better we can deal with it. For that reason, this legislation is very welcome. It moves us in the right direction. The tobacco companies are the ones behind all of this, including the marketing efforts. The vaping industry is part of their industry. The way they market, coerce and control all of that is something that has to be tightly regulated and dealt with. For that reason, the legislation we are bringing forward is most welcome. Nicotine pouches are something we recognise as having huge problems and issues down the road and they need to be dealt with urgently. I again welcome their inclusion in this legislation. We have a distance to go in regard to making sure that we get the balance right and that we do not annoy, isolate or put people off, in particular adults who may choose to use vapes as a means of getting away from smoking. That is something that needs to be considered. I encourage the Minister to take that on board as the Bill progresses and to see if slight changes or variations could be made to make sure that does not happen.

I welcome this Bill, which is to protect public health. Regulating access to e-cigarettes and nicotine products is essential. There is evidence on the risk of nicotine pouches - nicotine addiction, gum problems, mouth ulcers, dry mouth and hiccups, nausea and stomach problems, and nicotine poisoning. When we look at the growth in the market, the sales of nicotine pouches by P.J. Carroll and Co. grew by 480% between 2023 and 2024. That is 6 million to 29 million units for VELO brand pouches. That is a 480% increase in just one year. At European level, the first year of monitoring by the EU Monitor was 2018. It identified 292 million units sold. By 2021 it was 6.8 billion units of nicotine pouches - a 2,000% increase, and it has obviously increased dramatically since this then. This Bill is a measured and necessary response to a market that has changed faster than our laws. It proposes to ban the sale of nicotine pouches to under-18s; restrict the advertising display of nicotine-inhaling products in retail units; tighten rules on colours and imagery on devices and packaging; prohibit products that resemble toys or games; and limit flavour descriptors, with flavours in nicotine-inhaling products to be limited to tobacco. These are sensible steps aimed at one clear goal: making addictive nicotine products less visible, less attractive and less accessible to children and young people. We should also see the Bill as part of a wider direction of travel. In Ireland it sits alongside the Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill 2025, which is already moving through the Oireachtas, and is intended to ban the sale of disposable vapes. Together, these measures represent a more coherent public health approach, one that recognises both the health harms of nicotine addiction and the very deliberate ways in which novel products are marketed to young people. As we are not acting in isolation, on 21 April 2026 the UK's Tobacco and Vapes Bill cleared Parliament. That legislation includes a so-called smoke-free generation measure preventing the sale of tobacco to people born on or after 1 January 2009, while also strengthening the regulation of vapes and other nicotine products. That Bill represents a significant moment and it shows that these questions are now being confronted across these islands with greater seriousness and urgency. At European level, the direction of travel is the same. On 1 April 2026, the European Commission published its evaluation of the EU tobacco control framework, covering both the tobacco products directive and the tobacco advertising directive. The Commission's conclusion was twofold: first, that EU tobacco legislation has made a real contribution to reducing smoking and protecting public health; and, second, that the current framework is no longer fully keeping pace with a rapidly changing market, particularly considering the growth of novel tobacco and nicotine products and their appeal among younger consumers. The message from Brussels is clear. The framework needs to be updated, and a further review of the EU rules is now firmly on the horizon. That matters for Ireland because we are not simply responding to a domestic challenge. We are legislating in step with a broader European reassessment of how tobacco and nicotine products should be regulated in the years ahead. From 1 July to 31 December 2026, Ireland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. That gives us a real opportunity not just to participate in the associated conversation but also to shape it and put child protection, prevention, product regulation and public health ambition at the centre of the European agenda. Ireland has often been at its best when prepared to lead on public health rather than wait for others. Our Presidency offers the chance to re-establish this country as a European global leader in tobacco control and to show that strong regulation, evidence-based policy and the protection of the next generation are not obstacles to progress but part of what responsible leadership looks like. This Bill matters not only because of what it does today but also because of the signal it sends about Ireland. We want to be ambitious in public health, serious about prevention and determined to protect the next generation from addiction.

I am delighted to debate the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) (Amendment) Bill 2026. I firmly believe this legislation has the potential to have a transformative impact on our younger people, much like when An Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, led the way in introducing the smoking ban in the early noughties. This is regarded to this day as one of the most significant and effective pieces of public health legislation in the history of the State. As a father of four young daughters, I am acutely aware of both the detrimental impact of these products and, more importantly, their very real lure and appeal for them. We are dealing with a generation that is being exposed not just to nicotine but also to a carefully crafted image of it, with colours and flavours and designed to appear harmless, even fashionable. This Bill seeks to directly confront that reality. Through measures that restrict the colours and imagery used on nicotine inhaling products, devices and packaging, and by limiting flavours in these products to tobacco, with flexibility to adjust through regulation, we are taking decisive steps to remove the appeal that has drawn so many young people in. These are not cosmetic changes. They are targeted public health interventions designed to disrupt the pipeline into nicotine addiction. As legislators, but first and foremost as parents, we have a responsibility to act when we see a public health threat emerging. That is precisely what we are witnessing. The industry is increasingly aggressive and actively targeting our children and other younger people through marketing strategies that rely on bright colours, appealing flavours and sleek modern designs. Let us be very clear: this is not accidental. It is absolutely deliberate. The Government is right to respond strongly through this Bill to protect our young people, not just from current harms but also from future ones. It is important that we continue to reinforce clear public health messaging. The best way to stop smoking is to contact a GP or pharmacist. Vaping is not recommended by the HSE as a method of smoking cessation. The evidence consistently shows that licensed medicines remain the safest and most effective way to quit smoking. Furthermore, emerging research indicates that long-term use of e-cigarettes can significantly impair the function of blood vessels, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, which should concern us all. I commend the ongoing work of the Irish Heart Foundation. Its efforts in raising awareness of the dangers of vaping, particularly among younger people, have been invaluable. The briefings it has provided in Leinster House have been both informative and sobering. Its advocacy plays a crucial role in ensuring that we, as policymakers, remain informed, responsive and grounded by evidence. The industry is fast-moving and aggressive, and one about which we must remain vigilant. A new product now emerging on the market is known as snus. For those unfamiliar with it, snus is a nicotine pouch placed between the lip and gum. While it may appear less harmful on the surface, it can contain very high levels of nicotine, posing serious risks and potentially leading to addiction and other health complications. As this product is relatively new to the market, we are still learning about its full impact. However, early indicators are deeply concerning. Reports from last November showed that tobacco firm PJ Carroll saw sales of nicotine pouches in Ireland increase almost five-fold, rising from 6 million to 29 million units. That is not just growth; that is an extraordinarily alarming surge. It underlines the urgency with which we must respond. We now have clear and, unfortunately, growing evidence that the younger population is becoming increasingly dependent on nicotine. In Ireland, approximately 11% of under-25s are regular users of e-cigarettes, the highest usage rate of any age group. There are multiple factors driving this: the widespread perception that vaping is less harmful than smoking, the lower cost per use compared to traditional cigarettes, and the appeal of flavoured products that mask the harshness typically associated with tobacco. The absence of the traditional smell of smoke also makes these products easier to conceal, further increasing their attractiveness among younger users. This is not a marginal issue. It is a generational one, and it demands a comprehensive, sustained response. I join colleagues across this House in encouraging people, including those in my constituency, which covers Carlow and Kilkenny, to seek support if they are trying to quit. The HSE Quit Service offers vital assistance to adults who smoke or vape. For younger people, the HSE Quit4Youth programme provides a dedicated seven-week support structure designed for them to stop. The Government is showing strong leadership through the measures contained in this Bill. I am particularly proud that Fianna Fáil continues to play a leading role in advancing public health policy, just as it did with the smoking ban many years ago. I look forward to the day when I can reflect, not only as a politician but also as a father, on the positive and lasting impact this legislation will have had. I want to see a future where my daughters and all young people across Ireland grow up in an environment where the pull of nicotine addiction has been significantly reduced, where informed choices are the norm and where public health is protected with the seriousness it deserves. This Bill is a step towards that future, and it is a step worth taking.

We largely support this Bill. For far too long, vaping products have been on display at shop counters, on streets and even on stand-alone stands in shopping centres, very clearly targeting teenagers and young people. It is very welcome that this Bill closes the loophole that allows the sale of nicotine pouches to under-18s, and it regulates the advertising of nicotine products in retail outlets, similar to what is already in place for cigarettes. It is good to see that this legislation is also future-proofed against any new nicotine products that may come on the market. All that is very welcome. On the banning or restricting of vape flavours, I do not believe an outright ban is helpful. This Bill currently allows for only two flavours: unflavoured and tobacco. I note, however, that it states the Minister can add flavours to, or remove them from, the list. I worry that if we are too restrictive on this, two things will happen. The first is that the outlets will simply sell nicotine vape fluid in one packet and the flavour additive in another and people will go off and mix them at home. The second is more concerning, namely, that if flavour additives are banned, we could have a situation where additives are purchased online or on the black market. That raises serious concerns about what is in them, whether they are safe to consume, the levels of various chemicals and so on. We have seen how the system in New Zealand appears to work well. Under this system, there is a fairly broad but approved list of flavours maintained by the ministry of health. It is said that in New Zealand, there are about 57 flavours - I am not suggesting that there be 57 flavours - and they are very basic with simple words describing the product, for example mint, vanilla and so on. That would be the preferred model because it would allow adults to make personal decisions but it would also get rid of the flavour names and the packaging that is seen to target young children. Other measures include regulating the packaging, stopping advertising and taking the products off public display. We have seen that it can work in New Zealand so we should be trying that here. Overall, I welcome this legislation but I would caution the Minister of State against being too restrictive with regard to flavoured vape products.

Thankfully, I have never smoked a cigarette in my life. With regard to tobacco products and nicotine inhaling products, I would support measures that would protect children by placing restrictions on both the advertising and display of such products, including how they are presented on the packaging of the products. Addiction to nicotine is a costly addiction, both in terms of a person's health and the price of the product as well as the cost to the health service of dealing with the health consequences of this addiction. The cost of cigarette smoking to the Irish health service is over €460 million annually, with total societal costs exceeding €10.7 billion, which includes lost productivity with almost 100 people dying weekly from tobacco-related illnesses. These statistics are staggering. According to the Royal College of Surgeons, a 20-year-old male who is a cigarette smoker is expected to spend an extra €28,000 in healthcare costs over his lifetime. Cigarette smoking-related illnesses result in the hospitalisation of around 1,000 people every week. While using vapes is not necessarily a great solution to weaning people off cigarettes, it is better than people being on cigarettes. Vape use does involve health concerns and people coming off cigarettes should also engage with the HSE's programmes assisting people to quit smoking. Selling vapes to a minor is a criminal offence that could result in fines or imprisonment. The licensing of and restrictions on the sale of the vapes will go a long way towards preventing minors from accessing these products. However, restricting flavoured vapes also impacts adults and is not productive. Adults should be allowed to make a decision on such matters themselves. I have many people who have given up smoking and have had to take up vapes. It is the lesser of two evils. We know that vapes are not healthy but we need to look at the Minister of State's definition with regard to flavours because there are a lot of flavours out there like menthol and others that seem to be acceptable. People make choices. They did it with cigarettes. They used to take John Player, Major and things like that, so people are very good at making these decisions about what is good for them.

I welcome this Bill. I have been critical of the Government in lots of areas but I have to say that this legislation is a positive further step in protecting the health of all our citizens but especially our children. It would be remiss of me not to be a bit critical and say that I am not sure if it is enough in itself because we are dealing with what I would call a subversive and well-resourced industry. We think back to the Philip Morris days in the 1950s. The industry is still finding clever ways to sneak in and get people to buy its drugs so it will try to find loopholes around whatever laws we have as it did before in marketing colourful and dangerously addictive nicotine products directly to young people and diversifying them to tie in with modern lifestyles. I am reminded of the old ads in the 1950s where smoking was seen as glamorous, cigarettes were fitted into movies and it was stylistic. The industry is doing that with the flavours as well, not just with tobacco but also with vapes, which we are trying to make progress on. It reminds me of alcopops in the nineties and noughties when companies were trying to get young people into these types of products by making them more consumable, for want of a better term, so we will have to keep up. We have to make sure the industry does not start creeping ahead again. It will have to be monitored constantly. There are some good elements in the Bill. Section 18 contains a prohibition on the sale of all nicotine consumption products, such as pouches and gels, to anyone under the age of 18 and expands enforcement powers. If we can inspect the supply chain and target any type of advertising and website marketing these nicotine products to minors, it is a good thing. Maybe I am not 100% sure and maybe I rushed through the legislation too quickly or did not read it thoroughly enough, but will the Minister of State outline whether this Bill will also target influencers and the social media side of things because that constitutes advertising as well? Section 20 contains an outright ban on advertising and point-of-sale display of e-cigarettes and pouches in what is called the mixed retail environment. Some of these outlets will not like this but it is critical. Any sort of restrictions on imagery and clamping down on flavour descriptions are great. It is complementary to the Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill 2025, which we debated in this Chamber a while back. Again, it attempts to strip away the attractiveness and visibility of nicotine products in the same way the single-use vapes Bill targets the equipment by banning cheap disposable vapes. The industry found workarounds in the UK with regard to that, so we must constantly be on our toes. A shortcoming of this Bill is the fact that, as far as I can gather, menthol and mint flavours are still available. Is that the case? No. It is good to get some clarification on that. I did not want to be just making that statement as if I knew it. It is good that this has been dealt with. The other risk is that when we move away from so-called nicotine products, and I am not trying to pass the buck and start looking at another line of argument, companies and different supply chains, for want of a better term, will probably try to find zero nicotine-type chemicals as workarounds. They will always find something. We have had debates about nitrous oxide canisters in this Chamber. There are other types of chemicals and drugs that people will be encouraged to get. The Department should be ready to see what is starting to trickle in in other countries where the legislation has been tightened up and start working on legislation to deal with that if it is not covered under existing legislation. I do not think the other two listed colleagues are coming to the House, so Deputy Ward will be able to speak shortly. As I have said previously, this legislation is not worth the paper it is printed on without resourcing the enforcement. We have better enforcement in the Bill, but unless we resource the enforcers and ensure that action is taken, it is pointless. We require quite a lot of money in additional annual funding. I hope that we can claw back some of that funding and resourcing through proper fines. We have very inadequate fines in many areas, litter being a case in point. I hope the fines that are being looked at for breaches of this legislation will be sufficiently robust. Hopefully, we will get the income to pay for some of the enforcement in the short to medium term, so environmental health officers and anyone else doing test purchases and so on will be able to go in and catch the people who breach the legislation. I thank the Minister of State for bringing forward the Bill. I look forward to further discussion on it.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo. Tá sé thar a bheith tábhachtach. Tá gá leis na rudaí atá sa Bhille. This is welcome legislation. I want to particularly paraphrase what my colleague, the Sligo county councillor, Fergal Nealon, said in the media this week. He talked about psychedelic nicotine pushers. He was talking about shops in Sligo town that his own child was trying to get him to go into, even though they were vape shops. He said that the windows are designed essentially like a cartoon shop, a Disney shop or something like that. It is 100% deliberate, I presume, but they certainly attract children who are into that kind of shopfront. The products in the window include toys placed next to these nicotine dispensing vapes. The point he is making is this: why on earth, if someone is selling these products, which are not supposed to be available to children, market them in this way if not to target that audience? It is not legal, which is an important point. One of the important aspects of this Bill is that we are going to attack the situation where we have an abuse of process, in essence, by certain shops throughout the country, which are definitely targeting younger audiences. They should not be. That should be shut down. I absolutely reject the argument made by some other speakers that this is actually about choice or eliminating choice, and that adults should be able to make choices about what they buy and consume in terms of the flavours, colours and whatever else. On the one hand, I do not have a problem with that, and the notion that adults can make that choice is a good thing. The difficulty is not that adults cannot make that choice. The difficulty is that this space is being invaded by these psychedelic nicotine pushers to inveigle their way not to the adults, but the children. At the moment, the figures show that 13% of 12- to 17-year-olds in this country are using vapes. They were not previously smokers. They are children who have been persuaded by marketing and advertising to use these products. All of the data suggests that they will go on not to avoid smoking, but to become smokers because these companies are forcing a situation where they become addicted to nicotine, and that habit will only grow from there. In contrast, only 7% of adults in Ireland are using vapes, as I understand it. They are former smokers or reformed smokers. I accept the role that vapes may play for smokers in reducing their dependency on a much more carcinogenic product, as far as we know, and getting them off cigarettes. That is fine. What this Bill has to be about is plugging the loopholes in the law that allow the traders in vapes to target younger audiences, to catch that captive audience, get them addicted to nicotine and then secure a market for life. We are where we were 70 years ago when it came to cigarettes but there is an opportunity for this legislation to get in and stop this from happening now. Plugging those loopholes is a very important thing. The Minister of State will be aware of what are called “big puff” vape devices. This is exactly the way in which these companies are getting around the regulations. The 2016 EU regulations make clear the limitations. They ensure that cartridges and tanks cannot exceed a volume of 2 ml, and attachments or refillable containers cannot exceed 10 ml. However, these big puff devices are circumventing that legislation. They are allowing the putting together of a product where people can clip on multiple different devices, which means the device is much more potent, but certainly much more voluminous than is allowed. They are getting through a loophole. Can the Minister of State assure me that the legislation is going to put in place plugs for all of those loopholes? We need to make sure there is not a situation in a year or two years’ time where we have put in place this legislation, and we are trying to protect children in particular, but there is then a situation where people find a vehicle to circumvent it. That is a difficult ask but the whole point is to try to see the future and see around every corner. What is really important is that we avoid situations like that. Is there anything in this legislation, for example, that is going to deal with big puff devices? These big puff devices also circumvent the legislation we passed just weeks ago on single-use devices, because although they are technically not covered by that legislation, as I understand it, they are frequently discarded afterwards, so they create the same environmental impact as single-use devices. The big thing about the big puff devices is that because they are selling in greater volume, they do so at a lower unit price, so there is a financial incentive for people to use the big puff devices instead of the standard ones. To come back to where I started, the big thing about this Bill is that we currently have a situation where there are what I would consider to be irresponsible retailers. I know we do not criticise people, and I will not name anyone, but every Member has in his or her constituency a vape shop like this on a main street somewhere that is clearly designed in a way that we would not expect to be consistent with cigarettes or with vapes that are aimed at adults. What we have are shops that are clearly targeted at a different audience. It is not acceptable. We know from other exposés that have been done by the media that children are getting into these vape shops. They are buying products they should not have access to. We know that 13% of the underage teenagers in the country are vaping. Let us stop that. Let us make sure we have a situation where we say it is not okay to target them with a product that is potentially carcinogenic, certainly bad for them and is definitely going to encourage them to smoke. It is not okay to target that at kids. We have to stop it. We have to make sure they act responsibly.

I welcome the Bill. I have raised the issue with the Minister of State on a number of occasions. I was in Arklow this morning. I met with the student councils of three second level school: Arklow CBS, Glenart College and St. Mary's. I allowed the students to ask any questions they wanted to ask. One of the early questions that was asked was what the Government was doing to protect young people against tobacco and vaping credits. This is not the first time I have been asked this by a young person. Young people have been asking about this for a number of years because they can see it among their peer groups. They can see how they are being targeted and exploited, in many cases by the big tobacco companies of the past, which have taken over the nicotine inhaling device companies. Even though the sale to under-18s was banned, the Department’s own inspections in the first two years after the ban found that 20% of retail outlets were still found to be selling to those under the age of 18. We know there are still retailers who will try at every opportunity to get around this to be able to sell this product to young people. With other harmful products that are sold to young people, we take much stronger action. If a bar had a reputation for selling alcohol to young people, the Garda could object to its licence, and it potentially faced closure. If we are in a situation where a restaurant or somewhere that is preparing food does not take food safety particularly seriously, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland inspectors go in, it could face closure. I would like the criminal enforcement within this Bill to be a lot stronger. It should not be a case of a fine or imprisonment where we see repeat offences. We should be moving towards guaranteeing that somebody who sells on a regular basis should face a custodial sentence. However, we need to go further. It is about hitting these premises in their pockets. The authority should be there to force the closure of some of these premises that breach the rules, whether it is selling to under-18s, or if they breach any of these marketing rules, which we welcome. I do not doubt that for some of those who are smoking, as a device to help with the cessation of smoking, it is helpful. That raises the question: why not make it available on prescription? In all other cases where we talk about something to help somebody come off an addiction or whatever, we will make things available on prescription. It is still far too easy for young people to access what is incredibly dangerous. I welcome this Bill. I know the Minister of State has worked really hard on it. I know I have been critical about the pace at which this has been moving but I know she is determined to introduce it. However, the evidence is there that there are still people who are avoiding the law in this regard and I do not think the consequences are strong enough within this legislation. What I would like the Minister of State is to consider doing is that on Committee Stage, particularly where repeat offenders are convicted, we would see a stronger requirement of prison, quite frankly, and further, that we move to a situation where we can provide for the forced closure of these premises. It strikes me as bizarre that you can close a pub, yet you cannot close one of these shops for pushing these really dangerous products on young people. We do not know yet, other than some of the early evidence from listening to consultants working in the area, the impact it is having on young people's chests, lungs and hearts. A lot of that is going to manifest itself down the line. I would also say that in any of the process around this discussion, and I know the Minister of State is very committed to it, it is always important to engage with young people themselves, and to talk to Comhairle na nÓg, the National Youth Council and the Irish Second-Level Students' Union. The Minister of State and I know that every single young persons' organisation and youth group engaged with this project wants to see this legislation brought in as quickly as possible and wants it to be tough. I will be supporting it but I would ask the Minister of State, on Committee Stage, to try to strengthen some of those provisions.

I think everyone in here wants to see a reduction in the number of people actually smoking. I do not think anyone is against that. Do we know, individually, the point of view of people who have used vapes? I get that the jury is out but I refer to some element of harm reduction and the point of view of them getting themselves off it. That has to be facilitated. We should be absolutely united in ensuring we are banning products that are targeted specifically at children and adolescents. At times, we have seen an overproliferation of vape shops. I could say the same of Dundalk and I know it is an issue that has come up at Louth County Council a number of times. It is a very particular issue. I will accept that like many types of retailers, there are very good ones and very bad ones. We have seen circumstances of kids outside, who are in and out all the time. It is very obvious that they are not over 18, whether you were checking IDs or not. I agree with an awful lot of what has been said previously. It has to be possible. We have to make it easier, from the point of view of enforcement, that this would not happen. We obviously support the idea of regulation of nicotine consumption products and particularly the likes of nicotine pouches. We do not necessarily see the logic of a ban on all flavours except tobacco. While I accept it in regard to anything that is targeted specifically at kids, we have seen what has been done in New Zealand, where you have vape flavour names that are boring and a couple of standard flavours. I think that is something we can all get on board with. There is a significant amount of work to do in relation to this and we really need to clamp down on anybody who is selling vapes with hexahydrocannabinol, HHC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, which are having a detrimental impact on an awful lot of our young people out there.

I too welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation. At its core, I believe the Bill is about something we can all agree on. It is protecting public health. From speaking to my constituents and knowing someone who has vaped, nicotine is addictive. It is very addictive and I do not think anyone should be able to walk into a shop when they are paying their bills and see a giant green package that says "double apple", "triple mango" or "Red Bull". It is just attracting children. That packaging was deliberately designed by a graphic designer to be as attractive as possible. The entire vape itself, the way it sits in your hand, was done that way. I do have questions. To seek clarification, is it specifically just tobacco, or will menthol be allowed as well? No menthol. A lot of constituents raised that with me. There are adults who would like to have the option of menthol. I do agree that we should not be able to get a super sweet cherry cola vape but there are smokers who smoke menthol cigarettes who have told me that if they cannot get menthol flavour, they will go back to smoking menthol cigarettes. I know you cannot get the filters but you could easily go abroad and get some of the flavours. We have seen a rise in vaping, particularly in young people, and that is completely wrong. We need to get rid of the bright packaging, the sweet flavours and the aggressive marketing. This industry, the tobacco industry, is not one that has just been born. It is well established and it knows how to get around legislation, just like the ever-evolving head shop debacle we had, where they could change molecules or make a single change in the chain of it to get ahead of legislation. I too have heard other Deputies ask whether they would be able to bring out non-nicotine vapes. How would that be brought in by the legislation? The concern is valid and parents are finding children as young as ten or 11 with vapes in their schoolbags. They are contacting me and pushing for this so I do think there should be a much harsher penalty for anyone found selling to anyone under the 18. It is important we are honest about the debate because as adults, people who, as I mentioned, cannot get menthol-flavoured tips in Ireland can go to the UK and get menthol-flavoured tips and bring them back. In the same sense, if someone wants to get a flavour of menthol vape, they can or will find ways around it. Again, the bright double cherry or energy blast flavours are designed for children. Menthol and tobacco flavour could be used as a crutch for adults. It is also important, at the same time, to listen to all of the adults who contacted my office. They are real people and they are not trying to start a new habit; they are continuously maintaining and ending one. Many of them are worried and have told me that if this is brought in, they will go and get menthol flavour for themselves or worse, go back towards smoking. I welcome all the work that has gone into this Bill. I want to raise those concerns, particularly from my constituents. When it happens, the control the HSE would hope to maintain is through the licensed retailers, if we were to bring in strict regulations on menthol and tobacco, but I understand that if you bring in menthol, then you might be bringing in menthol-flavoured apple and there is a loophole there. I understand there are ways around it. We need to work together to protect young people in particular, and that is the main point of the Bill that I support. There is an idea among young people that vaping has no harm, when we can see complete studies of popcorn lung, multiple studies of people with lungs or half lungs collapsed developing at a young age, with vapes being found in their baggage at the age of 11. I will support the Bill and if we get the balance right, we will improve public health but if we get it wrong, we need to look at clear examples of other countries where a black market opened and people were able to get it from other sides. I welcome this, I will engage constructively on it and I fully support its intent.

I thank everyone who spoke today in the Chamber. We can see the passion on this and the urgency of the Bill. A lot of issues were raised. I only have ten minutes. The issue of flavours was the big thing. As for why we are banning all flavours except tobacco, this is what is most likely to reduce the appeal to our younger people. Today is about children and young people. In balancing this protection of young people with the help for adults who smoke, which came up today, we have found that vaping is not being substituted for smoking at a population level in adults. Dual use of tobacco and e-cigarettes is no longer associated with an intention to quit smoking among adults and one in six adults who vape have never smoked. They have never smoked. There is no evidence that e-cigarette flavours increase the likelihood of quitting tobacco. If I do not get through a lot of the questions, I will definitely come back with an answer for, or meet with, Deputies. I know they are saying we are forgetting about people who are smoking but we are continually increasing investment in State support to stop smoking, which includes free stop smoking medicine, such as nicotine replacement therapy, NRT, for anyone who wants to use them, more than doubling the number of clinics and expanding the We Can Quit peer-led programme. The HSE has now also recruited 48 new stop smoking advisers. We are trying to be very proactive in what we do. Another big issue that came up was pouches. Under the Bill, retailers cannot sell pouches to anyone under 18. The pouches will also be behind the shutters which can be pulled down, which is what we want to do. We want to make sure the vapes cannot be seen. The pouches will be part of that. Toothpicks were brought up by a colleague along with snuffs. Anything with nicotine is included in this Bill. That is part of a really good initiative for anything new. We all know it is changing all of the time. From toothpicks to snuffs to pouches, it is constantly changing. In this Bill, that is what we are doing. Anything to do with nicotine is in this Bill. I cannot highlight this enough to anyone. If people are selling to anyone under 18, they are breaking the law. They cannot sell vapes to anyone under 18. I cannot say this enough. It is so important not to be selling them. I want to compliment the team accompanying me who have worked so hard. I know from speaking to schools and parents I have been talking to myself, this is a priority for them. They see this with kids in schools where they see them vaping. One TD brought up a story about someone who was going to a debs and they wanted to get a vape to match their dress. This has to stop. We have to make sure we are protecting our children and the future for them. I know other countries were talked about but the most relevant evidence for Ireland comes from the Netherlands. I was in the Netherlands recently and it put a ban on all flavours, except tobacco, which led to an overall decrease in both the vaping and the smoking and, seemingly, it is working really well. The other initiative I want to talk about is the resources. Enforcement of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products legislation was highlighted as a priority. In 2026, as part of the HSE's national service plan, 30 additional whole-time equivalents have been allocated to the national environmental health service recruitment of these posts. They are expected in mid-2026. Enforcement came up a lot in the debate. It is important that we are able to enforce this as best we can within our health and well-being unit. We represent the health and well-being side. I am sure all Deputies are aware of the new licence fee coming out. This new licence fee will launch in the first weekend in August, I think. Anyone selling cigarettes or vapes will pay a licence fee. That means the HSE will have a list of who has licences, who does not and it will be easier for us to monitor this as well. That is another issue we really need to address. Another issue that was raised was the vaping prevention campaign. An allocation of €300,000 was provided in budget 2025 to develop and run a youth vaping prevention media campaign, which was really successful. We spoke to all of the different groups. We made sure we went to schools. We spoke to parents. We had loads of media coverage on it, which was important in making sure we were able to get that information out there. This year, another €200,000 was allocated to this budget. The campaign provides evidence-based messaging to young people and information and supports to parents and guardians concerned about vaping. The first phase was in 2025 and the second phase of the campaign is aimed at children and young people. It was launched in March and it was great. I launched it. For this campaign, we had influencers and content creators at the launch to reach young people through social media. We felt this time it was really important. We needed to target our young people and for us to do that, we used the influencers. That was a really positive move. Social media is a part of our young people's lives now. Social media is out there and we know that. That is why we worked really hard on that. As part of the campaign, a letter was sent to schools encouraging teachers and parents to learn more about vaping and to download the resources from the HSE. Since then, over 8,000 leaflets have been sent out. We also made leaflets explaining what we were doing about vaping and nicotine. That was really positive. It is hoped that this campaign will also contribute to the continued decline in tobacco use among our young people, given the association between vaping and subsequent smoking in adolescents. I believe every Member wants this Bill to go through as quickly as possible. This Bill is about our young people but it is about when you are on a main street, for example, and you go into a shop, you see all of those colours, flavours and packaging, we are saying we are here to support you and work with you. Flavours are a concern but the unflavoured ones, other than tobacco, have worked in the Netherlands and it has legislated for this. It has really been successful. Ireland is really leading the way in this, too. We work extremely hard with our EU counterparts, which is important. That is an issue we are addressing for the European Presidency and to have a workshop or work with them on legislation to see what we can do. I do not know if that will happen. The Minister has also been very positive on this. Ireland is leading the way on this. I know we need to do more. I know there will be amendments. I have listened to the concerns about looking at other flavours. This is about our young people and we feel tobacco and non-flavoured is the way to go. This is about saying, "Do not vape", and asking people not to vape. Vaping has been targeted so much at our young people and it has been a huge concern. I wrote down everyone's questions. I will get back to Members but if they want to email myself or the Department with any particular questions they have, we would be more than willing to answer them. I thank all of the Deputies. I am hoping to get this Bill through as soon as possible. We work with the EU and provisions are going through the EU as well so we are waiting on that. On disposable vapes, we are waiting for word on that in June. With this particular Bill, it should only take three months so we are hoping to have that back to us by July. The urgency of this Bill is today's. We want to get this Bill through the House as soon as possible. I believe everybody here wants the same and that this Bill is needed. I cannot say this enough; all of us working together will get the Bill through as soon as possible. This is about our young people and their future.