Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for bringing this debate to the Chamber. It is a very significant and important topic that we need to be honest about. If I remember the Minister of State's remarks, she mentioned vaping was both "lethal" and "addictive". Regrettably, many users of vaping products have no concept of those two words. I think they see it as cool and trendy to be using these very colourful vapes. Vapes come in all colours and all flavours which makes them a little more attractive. It is fair to say that when people are under the influence of alcohol, there is an even greater reliance on the use of vapes. That is pretty prevalent in clubs and pubs, etc. As previous contributors have said, the intent at the outset was that vapes would replace cigarettes but it has been counterproductive. We all know the consequences of cigarettes and anything pertaining to vapes because of those people who have respiratory issues such of bronchitis and asthma. There will be consequences of continuing to use vapes, further down the road, and that is where the real issues will start to arise. There is also the litter issue. When one walks around the streets of my own city of Galway, one sees plenty of empty, or void, canisters which makes this a greater problem.

With the greatest will in the world, we are bringing forward legislation - we all welcome that - but the focus must be on policing and enforcing that legislation. The same can be said for any other legislation; it is about who will be responsible for policing it. One of my staff members happened to be having a coffee in a busy Galway city establishment not too many weeks ago, and they witnessed a group of young people - much younger than one would expect to be using vapes - asking an older group of people to go to the vape shop for them and they successfully got them. It will be very difficult to police, in any case. When we talk about Galway city in the context of accessibility to vapes, it is interesting to note that according to my information, there are approximately 12 vape shops in the city, which in itself is a real issue.

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