Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry for arriving late. I misread the notice. I am glad to have an opportunity to discuss the subject. As a reformed smoker who smoked for almost 30 years, I have first-hand knowledge of what it is all about. I enjoyed smoking. I relished it. If travelling on a long journey, it was great to be able to have a smoke or two over 200 miles or 300 miles, whatever the case may be. When I stopped, I did so by going cold turkey. I am now interested in what constitutes an inducement to return to smoking. I have no wish to return to smoking. I feel I switched off from all the smells that go with it in the car or the house, or in the rooms of the house where I had to go when I was banned from smoking elsewhere.

For me, the issue is this.

Is vaping better than smoking and, if so, by how much? Is it stopping people from smoking and will it continue to do so? Is it a gateway itself? We need hard evidence on that because if it is a means of encouraging people back into the habit of smoking, we have a problem. If it is a way to encourage children and young teenagers to smoke, that is a problem. I have a problem with the flavours. I have been associated with anti-drug task forces and so on over a number of years. One of the things the illegal drug industry does is encourage young children to take up drugs by selling them drug-laced sweets. That is a serious problem.

We need hard evidence. I would like evidence as to whether there has been an increase in the numbers smoking over the last two years. As a result of the lockdowns, the last two years would be a particularly interesting period to have information on. Have there been increases in the numbers smoking tobacco or vaping? Has there been any increase in the numbers moving from vaping to smoking tobacco and vice versa? Do we have that information or can we get it? If not, why? It is vital that we get hold of that information. Is it possible to say whether there has been an increase in smoking home-rolled cigarettes? From casual observation, I believe there might have been. Have all of the alternatives to smoking that are available been tested? Can we have a public health statement in respect of each or any of them? Can we be certain that they will not encourage a return to smoking among people of that disposition, such as those who have given up? Generally speaking, people who have given up smoking do not wish to go back to it. They do not feel compelled to go back to it but the ones who have not yet tried it might be encouraged to do so by a halfway house in the interim period before progressing to something else. Will the witnesses give me their observations on those points?