Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-04
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Barry Ward (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I accept entirely what the Minister of State said. There is a provision in relation to the definition of "sell". There are two problems with that. First, it is very much at variance with the terminology that is used in legislation that attempts to do similar things. Being health led does not prevent the Government from making provision in law for an offence that is actually applicable. That is the concern I have. The offence is created in section 9(1), and in section 9 in its totality. A question will arise in any prosecution as to why the offence is not properly described in the section. Why is the definition of "offence" being moved to the interpretation section as opposed to the actual penal provision within the Bill - or the Act as it will be - being made clear? Why is it not clear that it is more than just actually selling that is involved?
The Bill provides an expanded definition in the context of selling means. That is not really good enough because it creates an ambiguity. It should be really clear. This is a criticism I make of almost all the legislation that comes before the House, particularly amending legislation where one would need to be some kind of an interpretive expert to understand what such legislation says. It should be the case that a person can be told that something is an offence under section 9 and then he or she can go to section 9 in order to discover what the offence is. That cannot be done with this legislation. There is no good reason why that is the case. Consider similar provisions that do similar things in respect of similar criminal activity, albeit not the worst type of criminal activity but activity that is a crime because it is largely damaging to certain aspects of society. When we look at parallel items of legislation, we can see that this formula or construction is not used. It is confusing, and I am concerned that it will be subject to challenge because it is creating a new mechanism that is unnecessary and ambiguous or that, at the very least, obfuscates matters as to what exactly the offence is.
I accept what the Minister of State said about not accepting the amendment. It is what it is. I am quite sure she has better advice than I do. I just have a concern about the way the section 9 has been drafted.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:43+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-04