Mr. Paul Gordon:

A cheap vape pen might cost around €10, while a starter vaping kit could cost close to €30. After that, the costs are relatively low. A bottle of e-liquid, about 10 ml, would cost between €2.50 and €6, depending on the bottle. It might take a smoker who was on ten or 15 cigarettes per day one week to get through that.

Ms Power referred to the Department talking about people voting with their feet. Part of the reason for that is the cost because traditional nicotine replacement therapy, NRT, costs are more expensive and some of it is subsidised on the medical card. However, a prescription from a GP is required for this, which is another barrier. The cost for people who are not on a medical card is about €36 per week for patches or about €26 per week for gum. People are not necessarily moving to e-cigarettes because they find them more effective. Rather, they do so because they are cheaper than nicotine products, even though they want to quit. As Ms Power said, we have seen that while the funding towards tobacco cessation as a whole increased by about 1% between 2010 and 2019, the investment in medical cessation products and NRT, including gums, patches and other prescription products like Champix, has fallen by 12%. We need to see a drive towards supporting people to quit and that is something that the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Heart Foundation have called for in numerous joint pre-budget submissions in the past. It is disappointing that it has not come to pass in recent years.