I am glad this Bill is being brought forward today and I welcome the ban on single-use vapes. Vapes are something that we really need to get a grip on. I also agree that unfortunately, the Government is playing catch-up. Selling to under-18s is still continuing. The HSE is not carrying out enough inspections, and convictions for the sale of vapes to children and young people are still extremely low. We only need to open our eyes as we walk around our constituencies and communities to see children and young people openly vaping on their way to school and home from school, and in places where young people hang around. It is deeply worrying. These products should not be in the hands of children. Investigations into vape shops reveal widespread non-compliance, with one Dublin probe finding illegal sales at 13 out of the 16 stores visited. The HSE found that 20% of retailers failed to meet age-restricted sales requirements, leading to thousands of vape seizures and closure orders against dozens of premises. Even the scale and number of shops where they are being sold pales into insignificance compared to the problem we are seeing with vapes. The Journal did an undercover survey and found illegal vapes that breach EU rules on warnings, nicotine and tank size were being sold at 80% of the places they went to. Those were not even within EU rules. It is just shocking. We have no idea what these people are ingesting. There is evidence that vapes can have a real impact on reducing cigarette use and can help people to come off cigarettes. Of course that is really welcome. It is the way they are being marketed, produced, sold and targeted that is of real concern to anybody in the community. I know of people who have never smoked or touched a cigarette in their life and are now vaping to beat the band. It is just shocking that there is now this method, which is sold and marketed as described earlier, with all the different flavours and colours. It is marketed at people to get them hooked on nicotine, pure and simple. The only purpose of vapes is to get people hooked into nicotine. That is of real concern. I was just doing some research and noticed the chemicals that are in there such as formaldehyde, carcinogens, leading to lung scarring, heart disease, neurological issues and obviously addiction to nicotine. That is in the legal stuff. That is what we know in terms of the legal vapes. The illegal ones are absolutely frightening. The last thing I will touch on is the environmental piece. It is addressed in the Bill which is really welcome. I am a volunteer with Clonsilla Tidy Towns and the Royal Canal clean-up. We have great groups in Blanchardstown and Castleknock that are helping to clean up the environment. Schools are constantly at it, making people aware of environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of what makes up the vapes are quite worrying. They are just thrown on the streets, in our parks, rivers and lakes. All of that is leaking into our environment. I welcome the Bill. There has to be a far more comprehensive response to vapes. It needs to be quicker. This industry has positive elements in trying to help people come off cigarettes. We can separate that piece to ensure we can keep that in place and help those people. The studies show that it is more effective in helping people to reduce their cigarette use or come off cigarettes than some of the other nicotine replacement products. The downside of it is worse, however. We have to get the balance right. It is clear that those who are producing these vapes are definitely targeting young people. If we can get a grip on that, it would be a really important piece of work for our young people. We have taken major strides in stopping young people from smoking. We need to put the same effort, time and energy into ensuring that people do not just swap and that industry does not use this as an opportunity to say it recognises cigarettes are bad and dangerous. Most of society views cigarettes now as something that should be in the past. We cannot let vapes become something of the future.

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