Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Seanad Éireann:

acknowledges that: - the restriction on smoking tobacco in the workplace ‘for the purposes of reducing the risk to and protecting the health of persons’ was brought into force in 2004 under the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts 2002 and 2004;

- the effect of this ban has been that people are not allowed to smoke in office blocks, aircraft, trains, company vehicles, health premises, schools, colleges, cinemas, theatres, licensed premises and clubs, when these places are a place of work;

- the ban also applies to common areas within buildings, such as corridors, lobby areas and reception areas of buildings, such as apartment blocks and hotels;

- the Protection of Children’s Health (Tobacco Smoke in Mechanically Propelled Vehicles) Act 2014 brought about a prohibition of smoking tobacco in a car with children under the age of 18 as a means to further ensure a reduction in risk to health of children;

- the definition of vaping according to the HSE’s website is: ‘Electronic cigarettes (“e-cigarettes”) use batteries to heat up nicotine, water and propylene glycol or glycerine with flavourings. This creates a vapour that lets you inhale nicotine without smoking or using tobacco. This is known as “vaping”’. Based on this explanation, ‘vaping’ is the use of an electronic cigarette;

- the Tobacco Products Directive was transposed into Irish law by the European Union (Manufacture, Presentation and Sale of Tobacco and Related Products) Regulations 2016. The Regulations rely on the definition of ‘electronic cigarette’ in the Directive: ‘“electronic cigarette” means a product that can be used for consumption of nicotine-containing vapour via a mouthpiece, or any component of that product, including a cartridge, a tank and the device without cartridge or tank. Electronic cigarettes can be disposable or refillable by means of a refill container and a tank, or rechargeable with single use cartridges’;

- the EU are in the process of introducing legislation on vaping throughout European Member States; notes that: - tobacco products are heavily regulated at EU level in the form of tobacco control measures concerning packaging, labelling, advertising, taxation, which aim to discourage their consumption. E-cigarettes and vaping products are not regulated in the same way;

- the European Commission announced in 2021 in its ‘Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan’, that it would propose to update the 2009 Recommendation in 2023 to extend its coverage to emerging products, such as e-cigarettes, and to explicitly include certain outdoor spaces such as schools, playgrounds and outdoor terraces of bars and restaurants in its scope;

- it is the owner, manager or person in charge of the workplace who is responsible for ensuring that the ban on smoking in the workplace is complied with, they can do so with the statutory support of the legislative ban, but as no such statutory support exists in regard to a prohibition on vaping due to the absence of policy in this regard, it is the employer who is obliged to ensure a safe place of work;

- Ireland was the first country to introduce a ban on smoking in certain places in order to advance public health;

- the HSE Public Health gives very clear advice that cautions against vaping and clearly demonstrates a concern regarding the health risks of vaping as follows:

- they urge those who do not smoke, not to start vaping noting that most vaping liquids contain nicotine, and that nicotine is a dangerous and addictive chemical;

- they clearly state that there are risks and negative health effects linked with vaping, that include:

- nicotine dependence,

- injuries - for example, from defective e-cigarette batteries,

- poisoning and exposure to toxins,

- changes to how the heart, lungs and other organs normally work;

- the HSE recommend for that those who wish to stop smoking:

- get support from a stop smoking advisor, GP or pharmacist,

- use licensed stop smoking medicines as the safest and most effective way to stop smoking;

- they do not recommend vaping as a way to stop smoking and cite the following reasons:

- safer options have been proven to work,

- they urge the use of licensed medicines to stop smoking, noting that treatments such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), available in pharmacies, and prescription treatments from your GP and which have been tested over many years work and are safe;

- the HSE have reviewed studies of vaping as a stop smoking support and when they compare vaping with the options they recommend, they are not confident that vaping is a safe or effective way to stop smoking;

- the HSE clearly states that:

- e-cigarettes are not stop smoking medicines,

- e-cigarettes are not licensed medicines,

- licensed stop smoking medicines go through quality and safety checks before they can be sold. There are some regulations for e-cigarettes and vaping liquids as consumer products but the system for licensed medicines is much stricter;

- with this in mind and given the potential risks to health and the rising cultural acceptance of vaping for those trying to quit smoking and those who have never smoked,

calls for: - the concerns of the HSE to be elevated to a policy and statutory footing to demonstrate the concerns and health risks;

- the treatment of vaping in an analogous manner to that of smoking with the immediate introduction of legislation that bans vaping in the following places:

- indoors at the workplace,

- in public spaces and communal places,

- in cars carrying children,

- the development of public policy and legislation that regulates the sale of vaping products and e-cigarettes in a manner similar to that of tobacco products to include warning displays on any packaging;

- Ireland to clearly signal and advocate strongly for an acceleration of the regulation of e-cigarettes and vaping products in the EU;

- the Government to promote an awareness campaign in print and social media on the dangers of vaping and e-cigarettes which reflects the concerns expressed by the HSE;

- the penalties for non-adherence to the legislation be introduced and enforced.

I will share time with Senator Conway - eight minutes each. I thank the Minister of State for coming to discuss this all-important issue. We had the smoking ban back in 2004 and we have had various different amendments to the Act through the years. Certainly, vaping is of concern to many constituents and me. That is why this motion has been presented. In Europe, they are looking at making amendments in relation to vaping. In addition, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, has ideas around vaping and is looking at something, or at least I saw in the paper that he is. The three key areas of concern where we want vaping to be banned are indoors, in public places and in cars where children are present. These are the areas that need to be looked at seriously.

Last Thursday night I was at something and we went for a drink afterwards. There were five people sitting at a table near us and four out of the five were vaping and they all had different flavours. One fellow was blowing it up his sleeve and they were doing everything. It was hard to make out for a while whether they were smoking or vaping. Vaping has become the new norm.

Organisations like the Irish Heart Foundation are very concerned that if young people see their parents vaping in public, it will encourage them to turn to cigarette smoking as they grow up. We are all aware of the impact that the smoking ban has had on our health. We must be conscious that it took much research to see the negatives of long-term smoking before the ban came in. Vaping is a new phenomenon and we must be more conscious and fully aware of the impacts it must be having on our health. That is the perspective from which this motion is coming. While they say that there is no research out there to show that it is not harmful to one’s health, there is no research to show that it is good for one’s health either, although there is much research happening at the moment.

On dealing with businesses, I have spoken to many business owners who have signs up on their doors about no vaping. As it is not illegal to vape indoors, people try to vape on the premises, perhaps where they are sitting, in a corridor or whatever. Even recently when I was on the Luas, which had a sign up about no vaping, I saw somebody trying to vape between the two carriages. It looked a bit strange, to be honest. Adding vaping to the health Acts and the smoking ban will assist and allow for a legislative perspective to protect businesses and enshrine fines for those who do not comply. This is very important.

The Irish Heart Foundation recently issued a report that stated it is concerned at the number of young people who are vaping. Another part we should look at in relation to this motion is that under-21s should not be allowed to vape. One in every five young people said that they vape. Young people vaping is a very worrying trend. According to one article, everyone is vaping because everybody else is vaping.Almost overnight, or so it seemed, vaping was everywhere. TikTok influencers were doing it and in school, everybody was using vapes. People were vaping left, right and centre. They were leaving classes to vape and they were vaping in the toilets at break time.

That is a frightening revelation if people are vaping and it leads to them smoking cigarettes. We are trying to stop people smoking and vaping is going to lead to people smoking in the long term.

Researchers are concerned that vaping can act as a gateway to smoking. They are also worried about the as yet unknown long-term health risks to young people especially. The percentage of Irish 15- and 16-year-olds who were smoking fell steadily from the 1990s to 2015, according to data collected by the European Schools Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs, ESPAD, surveys that are carried out every four years. However, the steady downward trend had come to an end by the time of the 2019 survey, which showed that the prevalence of teenage smoking has begun to edge upwards again. That is frightening.

During my research, I came across an article that suggested free vapes were recently given out by a company in Dublin pubs and nightclubs. The company carried out a promotion offering people free vapes in exchange for a follow on its Instagram page. That is totally unacceptable. That happened in this city.

From the Irish Heart Foundation's point of view, the value of e-cigarettes lies in helping long-term smokers who cannot quit. No good can come from addicting young people to nicotine. Most of those young people are non-smokers so it is not as if they are trying to quit.

There is a small amount of legislation in this area, in that it must be advertised if one is selling vapes and the health warnings must be on the packaging. Cigarettes are kept behind screens in shops but that is not the case with vapes. They are in a little cabinet on a counter in most shops, which allow customers to see what is inside.

One of the main concerns in respect of vaping is their use indoors. People feel uncomfortable. I spoke to someone who was on a train the other day and the two people opposite them were vaping. That person has an allergy to some smells and could feel their throat becoming dry. They put that down to the fact that someone was vaping even though that person was a couple of seats away. We need to ban vaping in public places, especially where children are concerned.