Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and commend Senators Crown, van Turnhout and Daly on their work in the Seanad and, latterly, this House in introducing this legislation. It is the duty of the Oireachtas to introduce and debate legislation that has a considerable benefit for certain sectors of our population. This Bill undoubtedly falls into that category.

The Bill's Title is self-explanatory, in that its main provision is to stop young people and children from having their health damaged by inhaling second-hand tobacco smoke in the confined area of cars. It might also break the link between young people watching adults, in many instances their parents, and smoking. It is a popular and well-received Bill.

In a recent UK study, 1,100 people were asked whether they would support a ban on smoking in cars carrying young people. Of these, 96% of non-smokers would support the ban. Interestingly, 89% of the smokers surveyed would also support the ban. They added that it might also help them to give up smoking.

This is not a question of a nanny state introducing legislation, as "nanny state" automatically implies that people have a choice. Children who are strapped into the back of a car and who must inhale second-hand tobacco smoke have no choice. Something must intervene, namely, the State.

It is no secret that tobacco companies target younger people to replace the customers and clients who either give up smoking or, as a result of smoking, pass away. They spend a great deal of time and resources on trying to get young people onto the conveyor belt so as to maintain the industry. I take this opportunity to ask the Minister to consider Florida's very effective truth campaign. Its leaders had a fund of tens of millions of dollars, if not more, following a settlement with the tobacco companies. They diverted much of that money into an effective marketing campaign, some of the results of which were interesting. It should be noted.

Reference has been made to the HSE's public health and information campaigns. When targeting campaigns towards young people, a number of curious points have been missed. The young are well educated and already know that smoking damages their health and kills, but they still take up the habit. The study concluded that they did this so as to become individuals or to show bravado, leadership or standing among their peers and communities despite the fact or, counter-intuitively, because they knew it was dangerous. It was like a counter-culture movement and people found smoking an easy and acceptable way of becoming noticed, involved, different or so on.

The authorities in Florida adopted a different role. They noticed that young people did not want to be told that they should not smoke because it killed. It was a negative message and young people already knew it. Instead, the authorities had to reinvent or replace a role model - the idea of smoking - with something else. The truth campaign targeted young people and met them on a one-to-one basis by way of attending events, working through the media, spending a great deal of money on channels like MTV and being more nuanced overall so that young people would get the message that smoking needed to be replaced. It was not just enough to say that tobacco was bad, would kill or would harm people's health. It needed to be replaced with something else.

I urge the Minister and his officials to consider this campaign. We do not need to spend the level of money that Florida did. It has already done the research and examined youth culture and the counter-culture pursued by certain elements of young people. The conclusions might differ from those we might naturally reach. We do not need to reinvent the wheel. A modest investment using the excise and VAT moneys we accrue from the tobacco industry could be spent on a more nuanced or effective marketing campaign. It would not be an information campaign, as young people already know the story. Rather, it would be a campaign to replace something that young people feel is necessary. The truth campaign aimed to make anti-smoking a brand in itself and was quite effective.

Will the Minister consider a further aspect? Since the Bill does not cover e-cigarettes, will he make provision to allow for a similar prohibition on the use of e-cigarettes? We are not sure about the health issues involved, but e-cigarettes might cause difficulties for the enforcement of this legislation. I support the prohibition of e-cigarettes where there are children in a car.

I commend the Minister and Senators on their work and ask the former to consider what has been done elsewhere, particularly in Florida. Such campaigns are well worth his consideration where they relate to young people.

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