I want to voice my objection to the process here. It is poor form. We had it repeated last week, and again this week, in terms of the Government taking Committee Stage of legislation in the Dáil as opposed to at committee. As Chair of the health committee, I received a letter essentially telling me that my committee was too busy to even consider this issue, without any real engagement with the committee about our schedule or willingness to take this at committee. We would have been willing to take this at committee - it will be a short debate. We could have done this at committee. We did not need to keep all the TDs later here tonight to do this. We had it last week on the International Protection Bill. It is poor form. We have a dysfunctional Dáil. We need to take seriously how we order business in the House because it is not good enough and it needs urgent reform. I would ask the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach to pass that on to the Ceann Comhairle because it is an important point. I also welcome the progress on this Bill and the other proposed legislation. The two probably should have come together in one. However, like Deputy Cullinane, I welcome the move that has been made there and echo the sentiment. There is potential to limit it to maybe two flavours, or menthol, mint or something else, in order to ensure that people use vapes as a cessation tool. I welcome that progress having been made, in particular, that children will not be targeted by the advertising of those kinds of flavours because there is a real issue. I had a transition year student in my office recently who talked to me about 12-year-olds vaping in school and passing vapes around a primary school. It is a real issue. We have left it go too long and I am glad to see we have got progress on it tonight.
Sentiment score: 0.10
I move amendment No. 1: In page 6, to delete lines 5 to 8 and substitute the following: " "single-use vape" means a vape that is not designed or intended to be re-used and includes any vape that is neither refillable nor rechargeable.". The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that the definition of "single-use vape" is watertight and that fake disposables do not make it through. I continue to have a concern, which I raised on Second Stage, about the use of "or" in the definition of "single-use vape" and the possibility that it will be exploited by vaping manufacturers and suppliers. The current definition reads: “single-use vape” means a vape that is not designed or intended to be re-used and includes any vape that is— (a) not refillable, or (b) not rechargeable; The "not refillable, or not rechargeable" suggests choice, that is, not a disposable if it can either be refilled or recharged. This is why have suggested, "neither refillable nor rechargeable", in my amendment. This connects two negative possibilities rather than one option between both. The issue is that disposable vapes are now being sold with so-called "charging ports" to give the impression that they are reusable, but most are not, or at least not for more than a week. I have an example here. This vape has a little charging port on it. You can pull it out. It looks like it is refillable but it is actually not refillable in any way and the charging port is only there for show, to make it look like it is rechargeable. Many disposable vapes are being sold with those detachable pods to give the impression that they are refillable but it is purely a token feature. It has been used to get around the legislation in other countries. Even if these were usable, there is very little incentive to do so as they cost approximately €10. We have already seen similar loopholes exploited in the UK and manufacturers will no doubt exploit the exact same one in this jurisdiction. I am not saying that the amendment is a silver bullet but the Minister of State and I could work together to ensure that the legislation is robust and watertight. We must make sure that the ban is not rendered completely ineffective on day one thanks to the proliferation of these fake reusable vapes.
Sentiment score: -0.03
If the Minister of State is telling me the definition is the same as the one in the UK, then I am even more concerned. Reports from the UK indicate they are getting around the definition there. We have been hearing this from the vaping lobbying, Responsible Vaping Ireland. It is saying that in the UK, where a ban on single-use vapes has already been introduced, there are reports that some unscrupulous suppliers are modifying cheap, disposable devices by adding non-operable charging ports or including token, removable or rechargeable pods so products can be marketed as reusable, even though they are being discarded as single-use while not being single-use. Like those that I showed earlier, they have a fake charging port and look like they are refillable but they are not. If we are modelling our legislation on the UK, where people are getting around a loophole in the law, that is not the law we should be implementing.
Sentiment score: -0.06
I will be pressing the amendment.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I ask the Minister of State and her officials to look at this again. I understand the Bill has not been in the Seanad yet. Perhaps she will look at what has happened in the UK in advance of the Bill going to the Seanad.
Sentiment score: 0.00
We might discuss it with our Seanad colleagues before then. I ask the Minister of State to look at what has happened in the UK and ensure the definition is watertight because we want to ban single-use vapes. I am happy to withdraw the amendment.
Sentiment score: 0.13
Deputy Ward makes a very good point about legislation more generally. A citizen should be able to pick up a Bill, read it, understand it and see what is an offence and what is not an offence. It is a basic tenet of the rule of law that people should be to understand the laws they are expected to abide by. Even if it is the case that we have to go belt and braces, put these definitions in and spell things out in each section, we should do it. We should be able to pick up a Bill, read it and understand each section. Even if that requires a belt-and-braces approach, we need to put in the definitions to spell that out. The Minister of State should have done that here. I have a general point about the Department of Health's approach to legislation. I have not yet seen it accept a single amendment put forward by either Government backbench TDs or Opposition TDs during my time here.
Sentiment score: 0.04
Amendments that I or other Opposition Deputies have table have not been accepted.
Sentiment score: -0.21
Okay, but every single amendment tabled in respect of this Bill has been refused. In the context of previous legislation, all the amendment that I and others have tabled have been rejected out of hand. We need to work together on this to ensure that we get the best legislation possible. We all support the Bill, and we are trying to get the best legislation possible. If there was greater willingness to engage on amendments in a more constructive way, it would ensure that we would have better legislation. Historically, the Oireachtas has not produced good-quality legislation that regular citizens can just pick up, read and understand. It has generally been complex and hard to follow. I say this as somebody who has spent a number of years studying law. We need to make our legislation simple and more straightforward. I ask the Department to maybe consider looking at more amendments on the basis of all of this.
Sentiment score: 0.28
I welcome the announcement of the second vaping Bill, in particular the piece around prohibiting the sale of nicotine-consumption products such as pouches to under-18s and the piece around advertising. It is targeted at children. The bubblegum flavours and advertising target children in an aggressive way. I support limiting the flavours as well. As I said earlier, I was talking to some teenagers and they spoke of the use of vapes among fourth, fifth and sixth class students in primary schools. In a secondary school, one student I talked to said nearly everyone in second year of the school vaped. It is a real issue. Like Deputy Cullinane, I think the flavours could be limited while allowing something like menthol, which is a cigarette flavour as well, for those who do not want to smoke but will vape. I welcome the progress on that and I welcome these public health measures. They are really important.
Sentiment score: 0.24