Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank her for her work in this area and for securing the initial funding in the budget. On the tobacco control policy, the Minister of State's opening statement referred to data from the Healthy Ireland survey and the welcome reduction in tobacco use from 23% in 2015 to 18% in 2023. The question now is how can we go further and what cohort makes up this 18%. Obviously, there are people who have been addicted throughout their lives, before they ever knew of the health risks of smoking. While we need to encourage and support those people, I am particularly concerned regarding new smokers and young people starting smoking for the first time.