David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to debate this Bill. Its primary purpose is to raise the age of prohibition on the sale of tobacco products to 21 from 1 February 2028. Sections 2, 3 and 7 provide for enforcement measures for the responsible authority, the National Environmental Health Service, to enforce the new age limit. Section 4 amends the placement of the definition of age card. Section 5 retains the prohibition age for vaping products at 18 years of age. Section 6 raises the prohibition age for tobacco products to 21. Sections 8 and 9 set out penalties and consequences for breaches of the Act and the core powers outlined by the Minister in his contribution. Section 10 requires retailers to supply signage referring to the new prohibition Act from the relevant date in 2028.

My party and I will oppose the Bill because we believe this proposal to ban the sale of cigarettes to people under the age of 21 is on the one hand superficial and, on the other, impractical as an approach. We are opposed to section 6 of the Bill, which raises the age of tobacco prohibition to 21 from the existing 18. The idea that an 18-year-old can join the Defence Forces, buy a vape or buy alcohol, but cannot buy a cigarette is unreasonable, and probably more importantly unenforceable. The age of adulthood is 18 and there is no age-specific medical rationale I have heard to remove the ability of 18-year-olds to buy cigarettes.

One could reasonably argue that there is a medical rationale for banning cigarettes in their entirety, but that is not what the Minister is proposing and is certainly not what I would propose. There is no rationale for increasing the prohibition to 21 years of age.

Vapes and alcohol will continue to be available to 18-year-olds. If the Government wants to ban smoking, then it should come out and say so and we can debate the issue. I am someone who has never smoked or taken drugs. There are many discussions in the House and people are occasionally asked whether they have taken drugs. I am one of the fortunate people who can say, hand on heart, that I have not. I have always had what I would consider to be a good company of friends who have never smoked and who do not take drugs, which is of benefit to me. I am not a fan of smoking, but people do smoke. When a person reaches 18 years of age, he or she is an adult and makes his or her own decisions, and that is what should happen in this case.

The Government claims it is necessary to stop 18-to-21-year-olds from buying cigarettes in order to reduce access to cigarettes for under-18s. I do not buy this rationale. It is a nonsense and cigarettes will continue to be available, but it will push more trade into the tobacco black market. Unfortunately, we have a Border on this island, so there will be different rules obtaining North and South. An issue like this will have implications for cross-Border trade.

For all of these practical reasons, I will not support the Bill. Cigarettes will continue to be available to over-20s and people at or over 18 years of age will of course know 21-year-olds. There could be 20-year-olds in relationships with people who are 21 or 22 years of age, so their partners will be able to buy cigarettes for them. There is no prohibition on smoking, so a 20-year-old will still legally be able to smoke. That person will just not be able to buy the cigarettes personally. That people will be able to get others to buy cigarettes for them is the reason this Bill is not the one we should be debating today. There is much more the House should be debating as we reach the twilight of the Government’s time in office.

This prohibition will not prevent under-21s from using nicotine. The proposal does not affect vaping, meaning it does not affect access to nicotine. Many young people have been exposed to vaping because it was legal for several years to sell vapes to children. The Government has not regulated advertising, packaging or flavouring that is designed to target children. The Oireachtas health committee discussed this matter recently when we were asked to waive pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill. Waiving it was the right thing to do, given that we can debate the issues on Second and Committee Stages. I am sure the Minister will be looking to get this Bill passed for reasons of his own that he can explain, but he promised a parallel Bill to the existing vaping Bill. I supported the vaping Bill and will support the parallel Bill. It is somewhere out there, but we have not seen it yet. It will deal with issues like flavouring. Practical measures like that have more benefit, yet that Bill seems to have been put to one side with this Bill taking priority. I do not accept that or see the rationale for it. I would have preferred it had the Minister tabled his parallel Bill on vaping to address all of the issues we did not deal with in the first Bill, which I supported and will continue to support.

The Minister for Health’s time, the time of legislation and policy drafters in the Department and the Dáil’s time would be better spent on the real and serious challenges in the health service. I am not saying that smoking is not a real and serious challenge. Of course it is, but this Bill will not do anything substantial to deal with it. A great deal more can and should be done to deal with and invest in preventative healthcare and make a tangible difference. We have long waiting lists, as the Minister knows, and a recruitment embargo in the health service. The Minister has still not published his pay and numbers strategy. There are challenges in children’s healthcare. The date for the children’s hospital keeps getting pushed out. There are many other issues in the health services where our time would be bettered used trying to address them. There is legislation on, for example, adult safeguarding, mental health reforms and many other matters the Minister has not progressed. It would have been far more beneficial to citizens had those Bills been progressed. Much more can also be done as regards prevention.

The National Ambulance Service is not fit for purpose and more patients are dying waiting for an ambulance to reach them than ever before. The number increased by more than 70% in eight years to reach 1,100 last year. The Government could take further meaningful public health measures to improve children and young people's lives. I hope that there will be a change in government and the next Government will be led by Sinn Féin. We would focus on poverty alleviation and inequality, including access to sport, healthy foods, healthy homes and the impacts of the cost-of-living and housing crises on people’s health. These would be tangible measures that would make a difference to the lives, health and well-being of children.

Legislation, by its nature, is slow and capacity is limited. We know this as members of Oireachtas committees. We know it from constantly seeking updates on when legislation will be before the Dáil. Obviously, there is a great deal of competition in terms of finding what is precious time to move Bills. That is why I believe there was a range of other Bills that the Minister could have prioritised, but he prioritised this one for whatever reason. Maybe he views it as his legacy – I do not know, and that is not how it will work out – but there are more important issues that he should be considering.

The Government has been dragging its heels on far more important legislation. I cited the examples of adult safeguarding laws and mental health reforms. There is also the question of rights-based access to care. Following the most recent referendum on carers and people with disabilities, the House debated the need to change legislation to ensure more rights-based access to care for people with disabilities. The list of legislation is long. I could go on about the Bills we could and should be debating today.

I am not just speaking from a libertarian point of view. I am not someone who is in favour of people smoking and I want to see fewer people doing it, but it is a fact that, while under-21s can join the military, vote, drink alcohol and vape, the Government is saying that they will not be able to buy cigarettes. I do not see the benefit in that. I do not see how it is practical. I do not see how this is the best time for us to be debating the issue.

I have made my points. For all of these reasons, my party will oppose the Bill.

See this speech in context