Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My apologies. I ran down the stairs to get to the meeting room. I had been following the whole debate. These days, members have to juggle a few things. I have been following the debate from my office. I thank the witnesses for their contributions so far this morning. I have read their written submissions. It is great to see Ms Power back in Leinster House.

The Bill has several aspects, including a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes to those under 18, a new licensing fees regime for tobacco and e-cigarettes and the ending of tobacco sales from vending machines. I am a child of 1982. I do not want to hazard a guess as to the ages of those present, but when I was growing up, if you watched Formula 1 racing on Sundays, the cars that whizzed past had tobacco advertising on them. There were chocolate cigarettes on display beside the Smarties when one went into the local shop to spend one's pocket money. It was kind of saturation. When I got to 12 or 13 years of age there was always a huddle of ten or 12 guys smoking down a laneway behind school at lunchtime, with a cloud of smoke rising from them. I think that has more or less ended. It is rare to see a huddle of young people smoking and passing a cigarette between them, either on the streets of Dublin when I am up here for the Dáil or down at home in Ennis. It has become unfashionable. In fact, younger people are, in general, living far cleaner lives than our generation did. They are into the gym and healthy eating and living, yet there is still a problem and this legislation seeks to deal with it.

In her opening statement, Ms Power referenced the Health Research Board and the World Health Organization, WHO, both of which cite in their research that e-cigarettes are no more effective than approved and regulated nicotine replacement therapies. That needs to be repeated. I remember seeing an e-cigarette for the first time five or six years ago when they first came on stream. An individual took a battery-powered and fruit-favoured e-cigarette out of his or her jacket pocket. There was a little cloud of vapour and I was told it was going to wean the person off cigarettes. That claim has been put out time and again but now, several years later, the WHO has published research to state is not factual. That needs to be repeated.

On the issue of vending machines, I do not know if my head is in the clouds, but I have not seen many of them. Where are they located, in general? What is it being sought to limit?