Minister of State at the Department of Health (Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor): I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am delighted to be here to introduce the Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill to this House. This is a short Bill with a single purpose. That purpose is to ban the sale of disposable electronic cigarettes or vapes. Like all public representatives, I regularly hear from parents, teachers and coaches who are concerned about the impact that vapes and nicotine use are having on children's health. The sight of discarded vapes littering our towns and villages is also a huge problem. Ireland has a long and proud history of tackling the public health issues caused by tobacco, dating back to our world-famous indoor smoking ban, and this Bill will continue that tradition. The Bill will remove these lower priced products from shops, which is important in making vapes less attractive and available to children. This measure will also address the environmental issues caused by the disposal of these products. The main health risk of vapes for our children is that the use of nicotine may become an addiction, which could lead to tobacco smoking and the many health harms that causes. For our young people, these products do nothing more than deliver nicotine, an addictive drug. In 2020 our Health Research Board found that adolescents who vape are more likely to smoke. Some 5% of our children smoke tobacco. Our goal is that that figure should be zero. This Bill is one of a whole suite of measures to address youth use of nicotine products.

The foundational law on these products is our 2016 regulations which implemented the EU tobacco products directive. Those regulations require e-cigarette packaging to contain health warnings. They also provide for mandatory safety and quality requirements for e-cigarettes and refill containers. The regulations oblige manufacturers or importers of these products to notify the Health Service Executive of all products they place on the market. They also prohibit the advertising of e-cigarettes on television, on radio, online and in print.

Today's Bill also builds on the work done in our 2023 law, the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act, and I commend my former colleague Stephen Donnelly on his work in this area. The 2023 Act banned the sale of vapes to under-18s and further restricted advertising rules. We want to limit our children's exposure to messages that normalise or glamorise vapes. Our 2023 Act also reduced the places where vapes can be bought, with their sale through self-service vending machines, as well as on temporary premises or at events which are aimed mainly at children, banned since September. We want to break the link between these products and events or activities our young people enjoy.

The new licensing system for the sale of vapes and tobacco products is designed to reflect the seriousness of these products and to help the enforcement of the law around them. It will do so by providing the national environmental health service of the HSE with up-to-date information on the businesses in operation. That requirement will come into effect for all retailers of these products in February next year. It will make Ireland one of the few countries in Europe to require an annual licence to sell these products. These are some of the measures already in place. The Minister for Health is also finalising comprehensive law on other aspects of nicotine-inhaling products and other tobacco products.

The public health (tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products) (amendment) Bill is very nearly completed. On 18 November the Government added to it measures on newer products such as nicotine pouches. These measures should be finalised early next year and they will be in addition to the comprehensive measures on vapes already in that Bill. It is very important that products such as nicotine pouches are addressed by legislation now. We saw how quickly vapes increased in use among young people and we do not want the same thing to happen with other nicotine products, so it is important we address these newer products more quickly in the knowledge that they are always evolving so quickly.

That Bill will restrict the colours and imagery on the packaging of vapes and on the devices themselves to make them less attractive to our children. It will also ban devices resembling or functioning vapes as other products such as toys or games. This is to ensure that the Irish market does not see these products become multi-use devices with features that are aimed to attract our children. It will also restrict the flavours available and ban 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. Finally, the Bill will ban the point-of-sale display and advertising of these products in everyday supermarkets and shops in order that our children are not exposed to these products in everyday life.

I think we can all understand how a child might be attracted to vapes, with their colourful appearance, attractive flavours and flavour names and the variety on display in our ordinary grocery shops and newsagents. The new law will ensure that the visible presence of these products is reduced and that it is made clear that these products are not the same as ordinary groceries. Some of the statistics on the use of vapes by children are stark. The 2022 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study found that 19% of 12-to-17-year-old children have used a vape and 13% reported that they had used one in the past 30 days. These numbers are unacceptable, and one of my priorities as Minister of State with responsibility for public health is to take whatever action we can to bring those down to zero. It is important to note that these responses date from before the ban on their sale to minors, so that number is likely to fall, and I look forward to today's Bill reducing those numbers even further.

I will now take the House through the Bill to outline the content of each section. Part 1 relates to preliminary and general matters and contains sections 1 to 8. Section 1 provides for the Short Title of the Bill and for the commencement of its sections. Section 2 is the definition section and sets out the category of products that will be prohibited from sale under this Bill. It provides that a vape must be both refillable and rechargeable, or be otherwise designed and intended to be reused, to avoid the ban. Section 3 ensures that the Bill will not apply to medical devices, accessories for a medical device or medicinal products. Section 4 is a standard section providing for the residence of a body corporate or unincorporated persons. Section 5 provides power for the Minister for Health to make regulations as needed. It also provides that any regulations must be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. Section 6 is a standard section providing for the service of documents. Section 7 provides for a six-month transition period from the commencement of the prohibition. This gives our supermarkets, convenience stores, specialist shops and others that sell these products six months to make whatever business arrangements are necessary to comply with this prohibition. Section 8 is a standard section on expenses.

Part 2 relates to the prohibition on single-use vapes and its enforcement and contains sections 9 to 13. Section 9 sets out the prohibition on the retail sale of single-use vapes in the State. It provides that it is an offence for any person to contravene it. Section 10 provides for the appointment of authorised officers for ensuring compliance with this Act. The Act will be enforced by our national environmental health service, the body that enforces the rest of our tobacco control and related law.

Section 11 is a standard section that provides for the indemnification of authorised officers. Section 12 provides for the powers of our environmental health officers to ensure compliance with the Act. This includes powers to enter a premises if there are reasonable grounds to believe that vapes will be found there or documents or other records relating to vapes; to inspect such premises and take copies of documents or records; to remove and detain any vape, or component of a vape, or any documents or records, where the officer has reasonable cause to suspect that there has been a contravention of this Act; and to require any person to provide relevant information, including for the purposes of ascertaining the ownership of websites. Section 13 provides for a prohibition notice in the case of contravention of section 9. A prohibition notice can direct a person that the contravention should cease immediately, require a single-use vape to be withdrawn or recalled from the market, or require that a single-use vape be disposed of or destroyed. The Bill provides for an appeal against a prohibition notice to the District Court within seven days. It also provides that if a prohibition notice has been served, but the contravention continues, the national environmental health service can apply for a High Court order to prohibit that continuation.

Part 3 is on penalties and miscellaneous provisions. It covers sections 14 to 20, inclusive. Section 14 provides for penalties for first and subsequent offences under the Act. A person guilty of an offence under the Act is liable for a first offence to a fine of up to €4,000, or to imprisonment for a term of up to six months, or to both. For any subsequent offence a guilty person is liable to a fine of up to €5,000, or to imprisonment for a term of up to 12 months, or to both. Section 15 is a standard provision on defences for offences under the Act. Section 16 is a standard section that provides for the liability of officers of a corporate body in the case of an offence by that corporate body. Section 17 allows the national environmental health service of the HSE to bring proceedings for an offence under this Act. In addition, it provides that on conviction, the court can order the person convicted to pay the costs and expenses incurred in relation to the investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence. Section 18 provides that offences may be prosecuted up to 12 months after being committed. Section 19 provides for an offence of providing false or misleading information in purported compliance with this Act. Section 20 provides for a process of disclosure which includes protections against the sharing of information that is legally privileged.

It is important to say that this legislation is about prevention. By banning single-use vapes, we are taking further action to protect young people from nicotine addiction and to prevent a new generation from becoming dependent on these products. Single-use vapes are designed to be cheap, attractive and easy to use. They contribute to the normalisation of nicotine use and pose significant environmental and public health risks. This Bill prioritises the protection of children and young people from these harmful and addictive substances. I look forward to working with Deputies to progress this Bill through the Oireachtas. I know it is an issue that all public representatives are concerned about. I hope they will work with me on this issue. This is about protecting health and well-being, particularly for our children. I commend this Bill to this House.

[Click here to read the full debate on the Oireachtas website]