Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The public consultation will conclude at the end of this year. We will then move very quickly to drafting. I would like to have a draft for colleagues to look at in March. We have to notify the EU then. There are several months' work involved in that, and then we will move through the House very quickly.

I do not want to pre-empt what comes out of the public consultation, but I am on the record, as I think we all are on this, as saying that we need to be very restrictive. I am deeply concerned, as I know colleagues are, about what is a very intentional and cynical targeting of children. This is the tobacco industry coming in the back door in the context of targeting children.

On Deputy Shortall's point, we have seen a really concerning increase in the number of teenagers vaping. We have clear public health advice on the damage that could be doing both in terms of vaping and also the potential to progress to smoking, which, we know, causes at all manner of damage. As a result, my view is that we should be very restrictive. We should ban single-use vapes outright for health and environmental reasons. We should be very restrictive when it comes to flavourings. Let us look at what is working or not working in other countries. My officials have already done work on that, which they can certainly share with the committee.

In terms of packaging, it is complex. We have already had conversations within the Department. It is complex regarding how we can control that in terms of being in the Single Market and how exactly we do it. We are looking at that as well. Then, as I said, one of the issues for me on which we have to move is the point of sale whereby people are just bombarded with all these carefully designed, very attractive colours and packaging when they are going to get their bread, pay for their petrol or whatever it might be.

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