Seanad debates

Wednesday, 9 October 2019

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Lorraine Clifford LeeLorraine Clifford Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that nothing has been done in budget 2020 to assist commuters who use our rail lines on a daily basis. I refer to the hundreds of thousands of people who pile onto overcrowded trains on all our commuter lines. The situation has been getting progressively worse. I am disappointed that extra capacity will not be delivered on any of our commuter rail lines until 2023 at the very earliest. At a time when we are talking about reducing carbon emissions, it is absolutely outrageous that we are forcing people into their cars, thereby increasing carbon emissions and putting a lot of stress on people who have no option other than to use commuter trains to get to work in the cities of Ireland. When commuters were asked a few weeks ago to stagger their train times to ease these pressures, it was an incredible admission that the situation is very bad and that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is unable to keep commuters safe on trains. I was very disappointed to see that. Unfortunately, the commuters of Ireland, who should be a priority, got no joy from yesterday's budget. I have invited the Minister, Deputy Ross, to come to Donabate, where I live, to see the state of the trains there. People have to pile onto trains at 7 a.m. each day. People stagger their times between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., but it is still absolutely outrageous and completely unsustainable. Extra carriages are needed on all commuter lines.

I would like to call for a debate in this Chamber on advertising standards, with particular reference to vaping advertisements that target teenagers. We need to ban such advertisements, just as we have banned smoking advertising. We need to have plain packaging. There are advertisements that deliberately target teenagers. It is clear from the research that vaping is a gateway to tobacco products. Some research has shown that vaping is beneficial in some regards, for example, in cases of people who want to come off tobacco. When teenagers are specifically targeted with glossy advertising and attractive flavours, it does the health of teenagers and the health of the nation as a whole no good. I would like to have a proper debate in the Chamber as soon as possible. I know there is legislation in the pipeline that will ban the sale of these products to people under the age of 18. I would like them to be subject to the same ban on advertising that we applied to tobacco products. This should be done as a matter of urgency. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on this matter as soon as possible.

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