Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: Bill to Curb Youth Vaping

Thank you, last, Ciann Comhairle, and I'm delighted to be here today to introduce the Public Health Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products Amendment Bill to this House. The purpose of this bill is to reduce the appeal and accessibility of e-cigarettes or vapes or other nicotine products such as pouches to our young people. This bill and our Single Use Vapes Bill, together with our 2023 Act, means that we will have one of the strongest regulatory frameworks in the EU on these products. According to the current evidence, e-cigarettes may be less harmful compared to tobacco smoking, but this does not mean that they are harmless. Our priority with this bill is to protect the health of our young people and non-smokers by reducing the livelihood that they will take up or continue to use products like vapes. The primary health risk for our children is that the use of nicotine may become an addiction which could lead to tobacco smoking and absolutely devastating health harms that it can cause. While we may all have heard stories or even known someone who had no difficulties with quitting cigarettes, the evidence tells us that around 90% of people who smoke are addicted to nicotine and find it very difficult to overcome that addiction. This is not the future that we want for our young people or for those who do not already smoke. The evidence confirms that the risk of young people with a report from our Health Research Board finding that adolescents that vape are more likely to consequently smoke. While it is a very important achievement that our smoking rates among children have reduced to 5% from frighteningly high levels in the past, I assure you that we all agree that our aim should be to bring this down to 0%. Tackling tobacco head-on is necessary to ensure that we reach our smoking-free goal for adults and children, but regulating nicotine products is also important to ensure that these products do not contribute to an increase in smoking prevalence among our young people. There are many concerns about nicotine use and the World Health Organization has recommended since July 2014 that the sale of e-cigarettes to minors should be banned as there is evidence that nicotine may have long-term consequences for brain development. The figures on the use of vapes by our young people are mixed in trends and they are showing. If you look at our 2022 Health Behaviour in School Age Children study, it found that 19% of the 12 to 17-year-old children have used an e-cigarette at least once. This is a decrease from 22% in 2018. In the same survey, 13% reported that they had used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days, which is an increase from 9% in 2018. This data shows that the gap between ever using and the past 30 days use has narrowed, suggesting that more children may be converting from experimentation into regular use. The 2024 European School Survey project on alcohol and other drugs of 15 to 16-year-olds found that 16% were current vape users, which is a decrease from 18% in 2019. 32% were found to have tried vapes in 2024, which is down from 39% in 2019. Finally, daily use of vapes in 2024 was recorded at 7%, which is up from 5% in 2019. While this shows an encouraging reduction in experimentation and current use, it is an increase in daily use, which our bill is designed to address. The European School Survey also found that 3% were currently using nicotine pouches. Although this figure is low, it is important that we act now to prevent its increase. To make nicotine-inhaling products less attractive to our young people, the bill will restrict the colours and imagery on the packaging and on the devices themselves. This bill will ban the sales of devices resembling or functioning as other products, such as toys or games. This is to ensure that the Irish market does not see the evolution of these products into multi-use devices with features that would specifically attract our younger people. It also restricts the flavours for sale and prohibits all flavour descriptors and language other than basic flavour names. This is to eliminate the marketing potential of the use of child-friendly flavour names. The point of sale displays and advertising in everyday supermarkets and convenience stores will also be prohibited to our children who are not exposed to those products in their everyday life. It will also make it clear that these products are not the same as ordinary grocery goods. In relation to nicotine pouches, the European School Survey project found that nearly 4% of our 15 to 16-year-olds used these products in the last 30 days. In terms of the health harms of these products, the evidence is not yet available on the possible effects. Therefore, the only harm that is known is that these products contain nicotine. This bill has created a new category of products called nicotine consumption products. This category includes pouches and any other products for the recreational consumption of nicotine other than tobacco, nicotine inhaling products and medical products. By creating this new category, the bill is the future proof any new products for the recreational consumption of nicotine will automatically fall under its provision. Current and future nicotine consumption products will be prohibited for sale to persons under the age of 18. In addition, the display of these products at the point of sale or in our general stores will be prohibited and advertising of these products in stores will be banned in all retail outlets. Regulation on the way that current and future nicotine consumption products are sold in our country can be done effectively in national law. The regulation of the products themselves would, of course, be most effective if it was introduced at EU level. A revision of the EU tobacco products directive, which is the relevant EU law, is long overdue. EU measures on current and future nicotine inhaling and nicotine consumption products would ensure that the measures in each country are supported because the ability to purchase from another Member State with different product specifications would no longer exist. An evaluation report from the EU Commissioner on the directive was recently published. The next step is the publication of a proposal for a revised directive. I know myself and Minister Karen MacNeill have repeatedly called for that proposal to be published as soon as possible, and I repeat that here today. I am calling here and I am asking for the European Commission to publish its plan for a revised directive as soon as possible. But I also join Minister Jennifer Karen MacNeill in promising that Ireland will do all that it can to progress the directive if the proposal is received during Ireland's presidency of the EU, which is really important for us. This bill was developed in recognition that most adults who use vapes formerly smoked, and that some people who wish to quit smoking have used vapes as part of that attempt to quit. Unfortunately, the benefits of this approach are not showing in our population. Our smoking rates have remained at the same level since 2019, despite increase in our vaping levels. From this data, it does not appear that vaping is substituting for smoking in our population. In addition, one out of six adults that use e-cigarettes have never smoked. Research on our Healthy Ireland survey data also showed us that in 2015, the dual use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes was linked to a high intention to quit and attempts to quit smoking. By 2023, this link had disappeared in all age groups. The measures in this bill are designed to reduce our young people's use of these products, while ensuring that they remain available for use of adults who smoke. This review section in the bill and the powers for the Minister for Health to alter the list of prescribed flavours means that we can monitor the effects of the legislation and respond quickly if needed. This legislation is also being proposed at the same time as significant investment in free, safe and effective stop-smoking support. Funding for the HSE quit programme has also doubled since 2021 to over €20 million in 2025. This includes the roll-out of free stop-smoking medicines to anyone accessing the HSE quit service, with €2.9 million provided in 2025. The HSE has also recruited 48 new stop-smoking advisors and more than doubled the number of clinics in the country since 2022. This combination of medicines and behavioural support is recognised as the most effective way to quit smoking and we will continue to look at ways to increase access to this life-saving support. We are also reviewing our national tobacco control policy to determine the best pathway to a truly tobacco-free Ireland. Before I take you through the sections of the Bill, I would like to take this opportunity to remind us all of Ireland's obligations under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Under Article 5.3 of that Convention, Ireland is required to protect its public health policy from the commercial or other vested interests of the tobacco industry. I will now take you through the Bill to outline the content of each section. Section 1 deals with the preliminary and general issues and contains sections 1 to 5. Section 1 is a standard provision for the title, certation and commencement of the Bill. Section 2 defines terms, including acts, that are referred to in the Bill. Section 3 is a standard section that provides for the expenses incurred in the operation of the Bill. Section 4 provides for the repeal of certain sections of the public health tobacco amendment Act 2024, which has been replaced in this Bill. Section 5 provides for review of the operation of the provision of this Bill. Part 2 of the Bill contains sections 6 to 12 and relates to the amendment of the Public Health Tobacco Act 2002. Section 6 amends section 2 of the 2002 Act and sets out the definition relevant to this part. Section 7 amends section 5 of the 2002 Act on penalties to include the new offences created by this Bill. Section 8 amends section 48 of the 2002 Act to include powers in relation to nicotine consumption products in the existing powers of authorised officers of the National Environmental Health Services. It also provides power to ascertain details of the supply chain, market information and website ownership in order to align with the existing powers for tobacco and related products under the EU market surveillance regulation. Section 9 amends section 50 of the 2002 Act to include nicotine consumption products in the protocols for taking of samples by authorised officers. Section 10 amends section 54 of the 2002 Act to allow the National Environmental Health Service, the enforcement body under the Bill, to use compliance notice in relation to offences involving nicotine consumption products. Section 11 amends section 55 of the 2002 Act to allow the National Environmental Health Service to issue prohibition notices in relation to offences involving nicotine consumption products. Section 12 provides the National Environmental Health Service with powers to act on the tobacco products and nicotine inhaling products which are compliant with tobacco control law but are deemed to present a serious risk to health. It includes powers to seize and destroy products as well as remove online content in order to eliminate serious risks. This measure is provided for under the EU tobacco products directive. Section 13 amends section 56 of the 2002 Act to include the power to issue fixed payment notices for offences in the Bill. Part 3 on the amendments to the Public Health, Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products Act 2023 includes section 14 to 27. Section 14 provides for the definition in this part. Section 15 updates the EU law references in relation to the exclusion of medical devices from this tobacco control law. Section 16 adds nicotine consumption products to the existing standard provision to locate the jurisdiction of the offence. Section 17 inserts a new section 26a into the 2023 Act. This prohibits the point-of-sale display of nicotine inhaling products. A retailer can provide a pictorial piece, a price list of the products for sale to a customer and display a sign indicating that the products are for sale to persons over 18 and that would be the main thing that they're over 18. The prohibition does not apply to shops that sell nicotine inhaling products only or additional sell only the following. Nicotine consumption products, vapes, vaping substance or accessories related to the functioning or maintenance of nicotine inhaling products or vapes. Section 18 makes it an offence to sell nicotine consumption products to a child. Section 19 amends definition of advertising in the 2023 Act to provide for new advertising restrictions in this bill. Section 20 prohibits the advertising of nicotine inhaling products and nicotine consumption products in retail premises or on a website that sells these products. Section 21 inserts new parts 3a and 3b into the 2023 Act. Part 3a regulates the appearance of nicotine inhaling products including that it must be of prescribed colour and shall not contain any imagery such as cartoons or graphics. It also provides that a nicotine inhaling product cannot function as a toy or any other product. Similarly, measures apply to a refill container for a nicotine inhaling product. Part 3a also regulates the packaging of a nicotine inhaling product including that it must be of prescribed colour and not contain any imagery such as cartoons or graphics. Any outside covering of packaging and inner lining are also regulated under this part. On flavours, a nicotine inhaling product cannot be sold.