Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I do not deny that what the Minister has done in this Bill is welcome, insofar as it goes, but it does not even half do the job. This is primarily about banning the sale of vapes to those aged under 18 years. We all hope that will work, but there are so many other aspects to this. Those aspects have been pointed out by many different organisations and by the health committee. They were pointed out to the Minister 16 or 17 months ago, as I said, yet he did not take them on board. He is now saying he is going to do it at some point. He might have draft legislation in March and then notify the Commission, which will take another six months. We are then into September or October of next year and I just wonder who will be Minister for Health at that stage and who will be in government at that stage. It is very much kicking the can down the road, and that is how it is seen. The Minister has an opportunity now to state very clearly what he intends to do by accepting this amendment that allows him to notify the Commission of his intention to do something. He has told us work is under way, so on the basis of that draft, as soon as possible, within six months he should be notifying the Commission. If it approves what the Minister intends doing, then this amendment would enable him to implement those changes regarding disposable vapes, flavourings, packaging and advertising and he could do that by statutory instrument. If the Minister is committed to doing this as quickly as possible, then we do not know why there has been a 17-month delay as that is rather unfortunate when this is such a pressing issue. I urge the Minister to accept this amendment and speed up and short-circuit the whole process.

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