Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is very welcome. This is a piece of legislation we have all been looking forward to in the Seanad. The real reason vapes are so much in our face and that we smell them when walking down the street is due to a cynical attempt by the tobacco industry to find new markets for itself. Our children are the people who not just the industry but, indeed, governments have been letting down. It is now our job, as the Government, to put a stop to this.

As in my children's school, vapes are a huge problem for the education sector. Teachers and principals all have to deal with this issue. Is it illegal at the moment? No, it is not. How do they deal with that? They have to put in place their own policies. Senator Carrigy spoke very well about shop owners having to put in regulations within their own towns. This could not come at a better time.

As I speak about the tobacco industry, I remember when I was in college studying sociology as an undergraduate, we did a survey of young people and smoking. That is going back a few years, but the numbers at that stage were going down. Now, however, we are seeing a rise again. The tobacco industry told us that bringing in vapes was a way to get people away from cigarette smoking but the European school survey on the use of alcohol and other drugs, ESPAD, youth survey found that we are now seeing an increase from a halving of cigarette smoking to numbers going back up again. It cannot be a coincidence that vaping is rising significantly, as many have said. They are basically being handed out like Smarties to our young people and we have felt powerless without legislation.

The other really important point here is the cost. Young people do not have as much money, so they are being sold things on their smartphones. They are being sold something that is affordable to them, that is enjoyable and that smells nice. A person can even vape sitting in his or her bed and it is not a danger. This is why the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth's legislation goes hand in hand with this and that is legislation to ban single-use vapes.Even if you are over 18, you will not have access to something that is cheap but really damaging to the environment and that will go a long way in helping. I am hopeful the Minister is supportive. I acknowledge he is working with the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, on that legislation, which will protect health as well as the environment.

When it comes to live events and events in general, a really important part of this legislation is to ban vapes in places where there are likely to be many young people. As a parent, I know that even when you ban something, the enforcement of that is the really difficult piece. People can get access to things that are illegal if they are readily available. It is a matter of stopping that availability when there is a large number of people at an event, because it will be illegal for them to use them. That is a critical and important piece.

I know people have said they have concerns with the licensing, but I find that quite difficult to listen to at this early Stage. This is because this is the start of a consultation process around licensing. Every time I hear of people's concerns being brought in at this early Stage when we are talking about something that is so essential to health, it is a case of putting the cart before the horse. Let us really concentrate on the fact that our young people are being exposed at the moment. We know that young people are being harmed by the vapes themselves. We know that it is not decreasing the amount of cigarette smoking that is happening. In fact, it looks as though it is increasing it, albeit at a lower rate than previously. There is therefore very little good to say about vapes at this point. Let us look at who has been pushing for them, where the advertising has been and which companies are behind them. These companies are trying to make money, as they have done in the past, from things that have damaged our children's health. They are continuing to do that. I say, "Not on our watch". Now that we are all in government together, let us finally do something that will really put the health of young people front and centre.