An Cathaoirleach: The House has a different Minister, namely, the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor. I thank the Minister.

Senator Robbie Gallagher:

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O'Connor, to the House this afternoon. The licensing fees for selling tobacco and nicotine products in Ireland are increasing dramatically to an annual system under the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023.

Up until this point, tobacco retailers faced a one-time fee of €50 per annum, and there were no licensing requirements for selling vapes. The new fees that apply per premises for tobacco products only have now increased to €1,000 per annum, and for nicotine-inhaling products like vapes it is €800 per annum, giving a combined fee of €1,800 if any retailer was to sell both, which is a sizable amount of money. Obviously these higher fees are aimed, I would imagine, at reducing the number of outlets selling tobacco and vapes, and particularly to reduce youth access to them. Retailers selling products before 2 February this year have six months to apply for a new licence. The HSE can suspend or revoke licences and the enforcement authority can publicly name the businesses convicted of such offences.

We all know the history of the tobacco industry and the lethality of smoking but there is an issue of fairness here with regard to the impact that this new measure will have on small family-run businesses. This new measure will affect all shops selling these products, including individual outlets with larger chains, and the licence will require annual renewal. The thing is that small local shops are expected to pay the same cost as larger retailers, which I feel is unfair. In the current economic climate, small shops are already struggling and many cannot afford this additional €1,800 annual cost. I would imagine that many small corner shops that I am aware of, and I am sure the Minister of State is too, would not make €1,000 profit in selling cigarettes in five years, never mind one year. Many people will simply go to large retailers if they cannot purchase cigarettes from their small local shops.

This change signifies a more robust approach to the regulation of tobacco and nicotine-inhaling products, which is a good thing, and it emphasises the Government's commitment to public health and consumer safety. It is also important, however, to consider the broader implications, particularly for many small retailers. The Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association, CSNA, which represents retailers of all sizes, from independent shops to multi-franchise owners, has expressed its concern at the new combined €1,800 annual licensing fee that will come as a shock to many tobacco retailers in the convenience, forecourt and newsagent sectors. These are the small sectors I am referring to.

For myself, living in a Border county, we all know that our neighbours in Northern Ireland do not charge a licensing fee and we feel this will result in leakage of potential business from small retailers along the Border area into Northern Ireland, not just for the product that we are talking about here today but, indeed, will result in other products being sold as well and a loss of business there too.

The Minister of State will be aware there is a lot of pressure on small businesses at the moment, so it is important to ensure that the new licensing system does not put an unfair burden on small shops. The overwhelming majority of retailers in Ireland have a responsible attitude in selling gated products like vapes and take it very seriously. I would welcome the Minister of State's comments on the matter.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, Minister of State at the Department of Health: I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this really important issue today. The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act introduced a licensing system for the retail and sale of tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products such as vapes. This was enacted in 2023, so there was a three-year lead-in period to this measure. The Bill was passed three years ago.

The Act has a number of measures that aim to protect the health of our children and denormalise smoking. This is what the Act is for. The licensing system for tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products came into effect on 2 February this year. Retailers that were already selling tobacco products or nicotine-inhaling products were given six months from that date to be become licensed. Any businesses that were registered to sell tobacco were also contacted by the HSE. Prior to the introduction of the licensing system a once-off registration and payment fee of €50 was the only thing that was required to sell tobacco products, with no payment or registration required for those who wished to sell vapes. An annual licence is now required for both. The fee is €1,000 for tobacco products and €800 to sell nicotine-inhaling products.

The licensing system will help the important work of the national environmental health service in enforcing our laws on tobacco and vapes, such as the ban on selling to under-18s. I keep saying it is illegal to sell to under-18s and we have to start enforcing that now. That is part of this as well. Because sellers must renew the licence annually, this means that our environmental health officers will have up-to-date information on where these products are being sold. This will contribute to efficiency in identifying anyone that is non-compliant.

The 2023 Act, including the licensing system, is a public health measure. The nature of the licence and the fees that accompany it are designed to make clear the harmful nature of the products being sold. This is what it is about. It is about health and well-being. Here is the information. Smoking still kills 4,500 of our people every year. This is not the only damage that it does in our country. As highlighted in the recent paper from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, smoking causes more harm here than alcohol, drugs and accidents combined. That harm includes almost 1,000 hospitalisations per week, as well as ten new cancers diagnosed every day that are caused by tobacco.

When our children smoke, there are additional risks to them. Smoking during childhood and adolescence causes both reduced lung function and impaired lung growth. In relation to vapes, it is generally agreed that although they are likely to be less harmful than tobacco, they are not harmless. An evidence review from the Health Research Board in 2020 found that for adolescents, the use of vapes is associated with an increased likelihood of smoking. In addition, the World Health Organization has recommended since 2014 that sales of e-cigarettes to minors should be banned as there is evidence to suggest that exposure to nicotine can have long-term consequences for brain development. The licensing system and the fees are designed to reflect the health harms caused by these addictive products but I thank the Senator for raising the issue today. In my remit, this is a health-led approach to this issue. I understand businesses too and we are mindful of the challenges there but when we see the evidence that is here, it is very important for us to have a health-led approach on this. I thank the Senator for raising this important issue.

Senator Robbie Gallagher: I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response. I fully agree with her about the ills of smoking and we can add vapes to that. We are all trying to do what we can to limit, where possible, the use of these products. That said, I still feel strongly that small outlets, small convenience stores and small off-licences in many of our rural towns and villages are disproportionately affected by this legislation, which came in three years ago. Although I believe it went through both Houses, the fee amount was not mentioned at that point in time. We are where we are but I feel a more tapered approach that depends on sales would be a fairer way of doing it. Many small shops and petrol stations around the country would not make €1,000 selling cigarettes in ten years, never mind in one year. I think the fee is excessive in that regard. A more tapered approach based on turnover might have been a fairer way of doing it. Notwithstanding all the Minister of State has said about the ills of smoking, which I fully agree with, I feel that the small retailers are disproportionately affected by this legislation.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor, Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor: I thank the Senator for his contribution. There is a long and proud tradition in our country, across all political parties, of introducing strong tobacco control measures. That started with a workplace smoking ban in 2004 introduced by Micheál Martin, and has continued with successive Governments building on that achievement to further drive down our smoking rates. As the Senator will know, Stephen Donnelly was Minister at the time this legislation was brought in, in 2023.

We are investing in our efforts to tackle the harms caused by tobacco. We have now approved 30 extra environmental health officers to be recruited in the coming months. This will help with enforcement of the laws around selling cigarettes and vapes to under-18s, as well as our new laws on the packaging and flavours when this measure comes into effect.

I am working on my second Bill now.

In addition, funding for the HSE quit programme has increased from €13 million in 2021 to €21 million in 2024. This includes more than doubling the number of stop smoking clinics and the roll-out of free nicotine replacement therapy in 2022. This led to a record number accessing the quit service and higher rates of successful quit attempts. More shops selling cigarettes and vapes would mean an increase in the risk of young people starting to smoke and of people who have tried to quit relapsing.

Smoking kills one in every two smokers and contains the addictive drug nicotine. Sadly, many of those who currently smoke started to do so as children. Smoking causes an enormous range of preventable illnesses and disabilities in addition to its death toll. Our licence system and its fees are designed to reflect the enormous harm. I thank the Senator for highlighting this issue today and I thank the Cathaoirleach for letting me finish.