Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)

I very much welcome today's statements. There is an irony that so much effort has gone into trying to reduce smoking rates in this country over the past two decades. We proudly talk about the smoking ban in commercial places. A lot of money has been spent by the HSE. There is a target for 2025 of a rate of less than 5% of the population smoking, but we know approximately 18% are still smoking. All the while, when the focus has been on that, the Government has taken its eye off the ball regarding a very serious and worrying trend over the past number of years, which is vaping. To see that the figure has grown from 3% of the population in 2015 to 8.5% in 2023 is something in itself, but to see that it is now up as far as almost 30% of young people vaping on a regular basis is cause for alarm.

The reality is we do not really know the full health impact of vaping. We head from Professor Des Cox, a paediatric respiratory consultant at CHI, this week, who said that teenage vapers are three to five times more likely to take up smoking. We have heard others talking about issues with memory loss and concentration. The reality is, however, just like tobacco, that it may take a few decades to understand what the full impact of vaping is. We do know hazardous chemicals are contained within vaping. It will take some time to fully understand what they are. There is a horrible reality that we are now seeing a new generation of people with an addiction to a nicotine product. While tobacco is obviously a much more dangerous product relative to vaping, and vaping perhaps has its place in helping people wean themselves off smoking, nicotine is not a problem-free product in itself.

We need to see urgent action by this Government, not only in terms of the legislation on single-use vapes, but also on the very aggressive marketing we have seen. Others have spoken about the flavours and colours. At a number of the music festivals this summer, including Electric Picnic and All Together Now, nicotine companies were out in full force handing out nicotine pouches. The aggressive marketing tactics by these companies are having an impact. We have seen that in the take-up of vaping by young people. We need to see an end to that very quickly.

The other critical thing is we need to future-proof the legislation. It may be vaping now, but nicotine pouches are something that are a bit more novel in Ireland. In some ways, they have been around for decades and centuries, but are newer in how they are currently packaged and marketed. There may be some other products in the future. We need legislation that is future-proofed with regard to the marketing and regulation of those products or any products that, effectively, contain nicotine. Countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium have effectively set down the template or precedent to future-proof legislation so that any future products developed with nicotine will come under existing regulations with regard to how they are marketed.

Legislation will only go so far. Regardless of the substance, the lesson is that prohibition will only ever do so much. It is the health supports that are critical. When we submitted a parliamentary question to the HSE earlier this month regarding supports for those who wish to wean themselves off vaping, we learned that there are no resources. While we have a very well-resourced smoking cessation programme, the HSE effectively told us that it has not been directed or funded by the Department of Health to develop a "stop vaping" service. There is a critical need for that. We have to make sure members of this young generation who are vaping do not become the addicted smokers of the future albeit it is a slightly different substance from tobacco. It is critical that supports are put in place to promote awareness and help those who wish to come off vaping.

There will always be substances that pique the interest of young people. We have all been young. The need for legislation is urgent and it needs to look ahead as opposed to just being reactionary regarding the trend we have seen over the past number of years. The Labour Party will not be found wanting regarding ensuring the swift passage of legislation through this House.

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