67. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if there are plans in place to further restrict the sale of single-use vapes in the country, especially those aimed at children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40618/23]

Stephen Donnelly, Minister for Health: The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) 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 children and introduce a requirement for a licence for their sale.

In addition to legislation, there are a number of initiatives and campaigns at local and national level that tackle the issue of youth vaping. The HSE has recently worked with the Department of Education to develop Junior Cycle SPHE modules on substance misuse, including e-cigarettes. The module for Second Year students focuses on raising awareness of the impact of ’roll your own’ cigarettes, vaping and e-cigarettes, and exploring the marketing techniques employed by tobacco companies.

In addition, local initiatives that promote smoke free environments such as Not Around Us have sought to further reduce the areas where smoking and vaping are present in daily life, furthering the denormalisation of these products.

It should also be noted that my colleague Ossian Smyth, Minister of State in the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications has recently run a public consultation on disposable vaping devices to examine what action should be taken, from an environmental perspective, as disposable vaping devices present several environmental challenges. The options being considered include introducing legislation to ban the manufacture, sale, distribution, or free offer of disposable vaping devices. I await the results of this consultation with interest.