1179. Deputy Noel McCarthy asked the Minister for Health if her Department has examined the case of Sweden, who has reduced its smoking and cancer rates through the use of tobacco like vapes and nicotine pouches as a safer and more readily available alternative to cigarettes, in the context of the measures proposed in the Public Health (Tobacco and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24300/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Minister for Health: My Department continuously monitors policy developments and best practice internationally. However, my Department is not aware of empirical evidence that Sweden's regulatory environment for nicotine pouches and e-cigarettes has a causal relationship to its current smoking rates.

The example of Sweden is used - primarily by the tobacco industry and its affiliates - to argue against regulation of alternative products in other countries. However, this minimises many factors which may have contributed to Sweden's declining smoking rates, including longstanding leadership on tobacco control and a lower smoking prevalence in the 20th Century than other European countries. It also does not take into account countries which have achieved a similar trajectory of decline with different regulatory frameworks for nicotine products, nor countries with the same regulatory framework for nicotine products which have not seen the same trajectory of decline.

For example, Ireland and Sweden have had the same regulatory framework for e-cigarettes since 2016. However, in Ireland, smoking rates have remained static since 2019 despite a significant increase in vaping rates.

The proposed measures in the Public Health (Nicotine Inhaling Products) 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 provisions to monitor the impact of any restrictions on vaping and smoking among both young people and adults.