The Labour Party welcomes this Bill but part of me wonders how it has taken long. This Government has moved at a snail's pace on the regulation of vaping and nicotine inhaling products. When we look at what this Bill is trying to do, the Labour Party agrees with most sections. However, we have concerns with the pace at which the Government has moved and the comprehensiveness of this Bill. The reality is that the sale of nicotine pouches has rocketed from 6 million pouches in 2023 to 29 million in 2024, and what product will come online next year? I had correspondence from someone today about nicotine toothpicks that are coming on stream. There is a concern about to what extent we are hardwiring all future nicotine products into this legislation. I acknowledge there is a proposal relating to this, but we need to strengthen that. There are two key issues for the Labour Party. The first is regarding the availability of sale. As other colleagues have alluded to, vapes are freely available in many locations with very poor or no age verification, particularly in supermarkets. There is also an argument to be had about the role of vape shops. There is certainly an argument to be had about the number of vape shops but that is a separate zoning argument relating to desirability. The standards are probably higher is some vape shops relative to others. When we look at the discussions taking place in Australia where the sale of vapes is only through pharmacies now, we need to look at the whole discussion about where vapes can be purchased. We would favour much tighter legislation on the sale of vapes. In terms of the discussion on flavours, I am quite struck that the WHO has made the point that flavours are fuelling a new wave of addiction. It is particularly telling in the arguments about the extent to which we need to restrict vape flavours. The range of flavours has hugely increased the attractiveness of vaping over the past number of years but the figures regarding smoking cessation speak for themselves. The decrease in tobacco cigarette use has slowed in recent years almost in perfect parallel with the rise in vaping. There is an argument that if we start banning flavours, we will see an increase in smoking, but we are already seeing that. In the UK in particular, there are certainly studies that show that if 17-year-old children do not already vape, the probability of them taking up smoking is 1.5% but for those who do vape the figure rises to a staggering 33%. A 17-year-old who vapes is as likely to start smoking as their peers in the 1970s. We have to look at the role of flavours in that. The Labour Party has a huge concern about the range of flavours that are available. Sinn Féin commented on differentiating between adults and children, but of course the reality is that if it is available for adults, children will get their hands on it. We will be supporting the sections on the flavours. Ultimately, my biggest issue in all of this relates to how we are co-ordinating at an EU level because Ireland, as a small country, is up against big tobacco and big business. In terms of the priorities for the Government coming into the Presidency for the second six months of this year, public health and vaping as a public health issue need to be on that agenda because while the research is not conclusive at this point in time, there are significant concerns within the medical world about the potential physical and mental health impacts of vaping. That is why we favour strong regulations around vaping at this point in time and are hugely aware about who exactly is very much driving demand in this country. It is big tobacco and big business, and we need to co-ordinate at a European level to ensure that people are not lured back into smoking or into vaping unnecessarily.

Sentiment score: 0.11