Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Amendments Nos. 7 and 8 seek to prohibit the advertising of nicotine-inhaling products, including online advertising. The amendments replace section 29, which prohibits advertising near schools and playgrounds as well as on public transport, and oppose section 30, which prohibits the advertising of nicotine-inhaling products in a cinema.

The 2014 EU tobacco products directive prohibited the advertising of e-cigarettes in printed publications, on television, on radio and online. The directive also prohibits a contribution to an event, activity or person with the aim of promoting e-cigarettes and with a cross-border effect. The EU directive was transposed into Irish law as the European Union (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale of Tobacco and Related Products) Regulations 2016. We will examine the options for further regulation of advertising in the context of the aspects that are already harmonised at an EU level.

The proposals in this Bill are designed to address some of the remaining forms of advertising for nicotine-inhaling products that target children. As previously advised, I do not want to introduce measures into this Bill that would require EU notification, which would set us back. There would be no guarantee, of course, that the Commission would necessarily accept what we are proposing.

Essentially, the law already covers most of what is in the amendment and other areas we are considering, for example, point of sale, as we already discussed. I would like to see significant movement on restrictions in terms of point of sale for this, which we already have in place for alcohol and tobacco. Essentially, the Bill that is in development now is looking at what areas are left that are not already covered in the 2014 directive and then transposed in the 2016 regulation.