Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I welcome this very important legislation for debate on Second Stage. I am perhaps a little concerned about how long it has taken to get to this point because I think that we need this Bill yesterday. As there is a real urgency to it, I hope that we can enact it quickly and that the measures contained within it can be enforced in all of our communities.

I understand that it is the intention of the Government to go further and to introduce more legislation. The Minister might indicate a timeframe for legislation dealing in particular with the marketing of some of these nicotine inhaling products and around the area of disposable vapes. I might refer to those in my remarks. The reality is that we are facing a public health crisis as a result of the sale of these products. We know already there are about 4,500 deaths every year as a result of nicotine. I have no doubt that even though we were moving very quickly to reduce smoking in this country, the targeting of these products, particularly at teenagers and young people, has resulted in an increase in the risk to their lungs. We are already hearing anecdotally about some of the impacts here. I do not believe that we are doing enough, quickly enough, to be able to address what is a major emerging challenge.

The marketing of these vape products is deeply misleading. By labelling them as vapes, it simply implies that they are vaping flavoured smoke. I welcome the definition within the legislation that the label is "nicotine inhaling products". In terms of the requirements that we should be placing on anyone who is selling those products, they should be required to call them exactly what they are, namely, nicotine inhaling products. I believe that in the legislation, we should look at placing these requirements on all retailers.I welcome within the legislation that they must be licensed retailers in order to be able to do that, and that we cannot have pop-up retailers and so on. Very clearly, these products should be labelled as nicotine inhaling products.

A lot of research has been done in this area but what speaks to me most is when young people themselves talk about the dangers that vapes are having among their communities. Now if one goes into any school community or any youth group and talks to them about it they are genuinely concerned particularly because even though the rates of smoking among young people have declined to single digits we are now seeing double digit figures among young people who are vaping. Many young people who never smoked have taken up vaping. I will give an example. At the BT Young Scientist and Technology exhibition this year one of the winning projects was from two students from FCJ Secondary School, Bunclody. Aimée Farrell and Leanne Mahon surveyed 1,300 students and they found that 10% of those 1,300 students - which was a very representative sample - had vaped in the previous 30 days and a majority of those who vaped had never smoked. Members will be aware of the recent survey from Foróige in Sligo of 1,000 young people, published in October. In that case it found 36% of young people who currently vaped had not smoked previously.

In the UK there is an even more frightening statistic coming from the NHS. I was not able to find any figures for Ireland but in the UK in the year to April 2023 the NHS states that there have been 15 cases of children aged nine and under admitted to hospital as a result of vaping. The Minister may be aware of the Wexford Comhairle na nÓg report published over a year ago that surveyed more than 1,700 young people. It found that 25% had used an e-cigarette or one of these nicotine inhaling machines, and 86% knew of someone in their age group who had smoked previously. They also found that 88% of all those young people found that the colours or flavours made these nicotine inhaling products more attractive to young people. In reality, it is young people who are telling us, as well as the health experts, how significant this is as a problem. I believe that among young people it is perhaps the major emerging public health crisis that we must face.

I welcome section 30 within the legislation. It provides for restrictions on where advertising is located, including within 200 m of a school. However, I would go further. I will cite again the example of the work done by the Wexford Comhairle na nÓg with Wexford County Council in the Not Around Us campaign. In public spaces controlled by the county council there is now a ban on smoking and vaping. There are requests to other organisations. We have also seen it with a number of sporting organisations that have requested those who are on the sidelines not to smoke or vape. We need to be proactive. There has to be a proactive public health campaign in this area but I would like the Minister to consider expanding the range of areas where advertising for these nicotine inhaling products would be banned.

I welcome section 31 around banning the advertising of these products in cinemas but I raise the question as to why subsection (2) is allowed to continue. They are banned in cinemas except if the film is over 18s. Dare I say that it is reasonably easy for under-18s to sneak into cinemas to see films that may be classified as over-18. I see no reason as to why this exemption should be in place. We do not allow adverts for cigarettes to be shown at films for over-18s. I do not see a reason there is a distinction. It also creates difficulty for cinema owners whereby they have to try to work out what they should or should not be showing at a screening. It would be much easier and much healthier just to have a complete ban on all nicotine inhaling products in cinemas. It would also avoid that which we all know is a reality where certain over-18s films teenagers are going to be able to get in.

It is crucial that we also look at liaising with Coimisiún na Meán. We gave the commission quite considerable powers around the area of online safety. There are concerns. There is extensive research from Curtin University in Perth, Australia, about TikTok videos which are being used to promote nicotine inhaling products. When we deal with advertising we have to look not just at the traditional forms in shops, on streets, on posters and in cinemas. We also need to look at the place where young people predominantly get their information, which is through social media. I am aware that companies like TikTok and others will try to act as the good citizen but I equally believe that the Department should operate with Coimisiún na Meán to ensure that where good practices regarding social media do not exist, sanctions can be applied to the social media companies.

The question of disposable vapes will be critical in the legislation that will be coming forward to deal with the marketing and advertising of these products. Any Tidy Towns or community development group will say that the biggest source of litter on our streets now - along with tobacco products - is disposable vapes. It is becoming a major problem in all communities. One only needs to look at the stickers that are coming from vaping products on bins on our streets. We know where they are coming from. It is from the disposable vapes that are thrown all over streets and roads across the country.

There is no reason we need to continue with disposable vapes. There is evidence that nicotine inhaling products help some people to give up smoking. That was what they were originally intended for. However, we know that the shift has come from the tobacco companies that own most of these products and that they are now very specifically targeting a new generation to become addicts. We need to take them on. Therefore, we need to make it as difficult as possible. We should move towards a prescription basis, to make vapes medical devices and people should be helped in that way.

We cannot underestimate how serious this issue is. It is impacting on a generation of young people in such a way that we need to stand up for them. I support this Bill but the forthcoming legislation needs to go much further.