John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1638. To ask the Minister for Health for an update on the background to the current vaping legislation and her plans for the future in relation to same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57825/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The immediate focus of policy and legislation regarding vaping is on reducing youth uptake.

The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023 introduced a number of measures on nicotine inhaling products including:

• A minimum age of sale of 18 which came into effect in December 2023.

• An annual licensing system for the sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products and increased penalties for retailers who commit offences such as selling products to minors (February 2026)

• A prohibition on the sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products from temporary or moveable premises, such as at festivals (February 2026)

• A prohibition on the sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products from self-service vending machines (since September 2025).

On 10 September 2024, the Government approved the drafting of a Public Health (Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill in accordance with the submitted General Scheme for a Bill. On the advice of the Attorney General, owing to the separate regulatory framework for single-use vapes and nicotine inhaling products, the prohibition of single-use vapes and the associated enforcement provisions have been drafted in a separate Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill. The remaining law will be contained in the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) (Amendment) Bill and will include:

• Restrictions of point-of-sale display and advertising

• Restrictions on colours and imagery on nicotine inhaling product devices and packaging, as well as restrictions on the devices resembling or functioning as other products such as toys or games.

• Prohibiting all flavour descriptors and language other than basic flavour names.

• Limiting flavours in nicotine inhaling products to tobacco, with Ministerial powers to further amend this list via secondary legislation.

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1639. To ask the Minister for Health if she has considered any data on the way in which vaping is an effective gateway out of smoking and maintaining a lifestyle without nicotine and tar (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57826/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

This issue was examined extensively in the Regulatory Impact Analysis for the proposals contained in the General Scheme for a Public Health (Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill, published in September 2024, and continues to be monitored by my Department.

There is a complex relationship between smoking and vaping, with differences at individual-level and population-level.

First, the Health Research Board found that there was an association between e-cigarette use and subsequent smoking in young people. There is therefore a concern that large increases in e-cigarette use could in time lead to an increase in smoking rates.

Secondly, there are differing views on the effectiveness and safety of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. E-cigarettes are promoted for cessation in England, citing a Cochrane Review which found them to be twice as effective as Nicotine Replacement Therapies in randomised clinical trials. However, the Irish National Stop Smoking Clinical Guidelines do not recommend e-cigarettes for smoking cessation, due to the uncertain effectiveness and safety profile of e-cigarettes compared with other supports which have been proven to be both safe and effective. The WHO has published global stop smoking guidelines which do not recommend e-cigarettes on similar grounds.

Finally, the above evidence and debate relates to clinical interventions and support, and not the population-level use of nicotine inhaling products as a consumer product.

The biggest cohort of e-cigarette users are former smokers, and 12% of those who attempted to quit in 2024 used e-cigarettes, though this has decreased annually since 2019, despite population increases in vaping prevalence. The second largest cohort of e-cigarette users also smoke (dual-users). Recent research on Irish trends has found that while dual-use correlated with intention to quit smoking and quit attempts in 2015, by 2023 dual-use was no longer linked to efforts to quit tobacco. Concerningly, an increasing proportion of e-cigarette users have never smoked, from 4% in 2021 to 18% in 2024.

Smoking rates have remained static despite an increase in vaping rates, suggesting that vaping is not substituting for smoking. This has been particularly pronounced in the 15–24-year-old cohort, with smoking rates having risen slightly at the same time as rapid increases in vaping (a 7-percentage point increase in 2023).

The proposed measures in the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) (Amendment) Bill take into consideration the population-level impact of vaping and the need for a high level of health protection for young people.

The proposals include a review structure to monitor the impact of any restrictions on e-cigarette use and smoking among both young people and adults, as well as provisions to amend the list of allowed flavours as new evidence presents.