628. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Health if he is in favour of a ban on all e-cigarette product flavours, barring tobacco flavour; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29187/23]

Stephen Donnelly Minister for Health: The current legislative priority in this area is the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill. The Bill will introduce a suite of measures which aim to reduce the appeal and availability of nicotine inhaling products such as electronic cigarettes to young people. In particular the Bill will prohibit the sale of these products to minors and introduce a requirement for a licence for their sale.

Further effective regulation of nicotine inhaling products is complex. Successful actions on public health issues such as smoking prevalence or alcohol consumption require multiple evidence-based interventions in order to affect usage. Each aspect of the product, including pricing, advertising, packaging and sale needs to be addressed in order to have a successful impact. There are a range of options for how best to regulate these products while taking into consideration their relative harm compared to combustible tobacco products. In addition, there is already significant regulation of these products at EU level and I am conscious that a proposal for a revised Tobacco Products Directive is expected in 2024.

In the context of all of these considerations, I have asked my officials to examine options for the development of further and comprehensive legislation on nicotine inhaling products which will include examining the restriction of flavours.