Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill 2025: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-28 ============================================================ Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny I thank all Senators for their contributions on this debate. I look forward to continuing engagement on the Bill on Committee Stage. Some Senators had to leave so I will come back to them on the issues raised. We are working with retailers and there will be notification. On single-use vapes from another country, this Bill applies to sales in the State. We cannot legislate for sales in other countries. Many other EU countries have banned them and an EU-wide law is coming in. I will meet any groups or organisations Senators would like us to meet. Senator McDowell spoke and I thank him. To clarify, there are two Bills. The Bill he spoke about is the second Bill, not the single-use vape Bill we are discussing tonight. We have two Bills on the advice of the Office of the Attorney General due to the regulatory framework for single-use vapes being different from that of the nicotine inhalant products. The issues he raised are very relevant. I assure him in the second Bill I will do what I can to work on that. There are many different opinions and many people feel to differently whether it is cigarettes and vapes. When the second Bill was in the Dáil last week, flavours were brought up on several occasions by Members. I thank him for raising it too. Enforcement is important. The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) (Amendment) Bill 2026 introduces a range of new enforcement tools. There will be compliance and prohibition notices, fixed-payment notices, a minimum licence suspension period following conviction and a revocation of licence after conviction if someone has two convictions. On resources, enforcement of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products legislation was highlighted as a priority action in 2026. The national service plan is part of this. Thirty additional WTEs have been allocated to the national environmental health service. It is recruiting these posts. They are expected we hope in mid-2026. On the proposals to extend the existing smoking-free legislation to vaping and prohibited smoking in outdoor areas, this has come across a lot of the time. It was subject to public consultation in 2024 alongside measures to regulate nicotine inhaling products. That is vaping and smoking in public which has constantly come up. The legislation programme pursued included the measures most likely to reduce vaping among young people. However our national tobacco control policy, tobacco-free Ireland, is currently being reviewed. Senator McDowell is right - working with our EU counterparts will play a huge role in this. The review will be considered in the full range of existing legislation and measures to protect the public from second-hand smoke and aerosols and whether these should be strengthened. We are looking at this in the context of the EU Council recommendation on smoke and aerosol-free environments, which recommends that member states protect the public from second-hand smoke and aerosols in a range of indoor and outdoor settings. This is just part of what is being looked at. It is important because a lot of money has been invested in the prevention campaign for vaping. Some €300,000 was allocated in budget 2025 to develop and run a youth vaping prevention media campaign and €200,000 was given in budget 2026 to continue this campaign. The first thing that has to be said is that you cannot sell vapes to under-18s. You are breaking the law. You cannot do that. It is illegal to sell vapes to under-18s; you cannot do it. This campaign provides evidence-based messaging to young people, as well as information and support to parents and guardians about vapes. The first phase of the campaign, aimed at parents and guardians, was launched in 2025. This included digital advertising and radio campaigns. We are very mindful that we are living in an era where for young people, a lot of things are digital. We have to be mindful of that and of how we get the prevention campaign out there. The second phase of the campaign is aimed at children and young people. It was launched in March of this year. We got influencers and a content creator to reach young people through social media. Again, we had to very much focus on social media and I believe it is the first time the HSE had influencers doing this. I thought it was really important to target our young people on this. As part of the campaign, a letter was sent to schools encouraging teachers and parents to learn more about vaping and to download the resources from the HSE. Since then, over 8,000 leaflets have been sent out. It is hoped that this campaign will also contribute to the continuing decline in tobacco use among young people, given the association between vaping and subsequent smoking in adolescents. There is another area that comes up all the time; I am raising it in the last few minutes here. We are talking about what is called a smoke-free generation. In November 2024, the Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Act 2024 - Senator Paul Daly spoke about this - was enacted. Under this law, Ireland became the first country in the EU to raise its minimum legal age for sale of tobacco products to 21. The measures will come into effect on 1 February 2028. We are really making good strides and we need to do more. Our national tobacco control policy, Tobacco Free Ireland, is currently being reviewed and one of the central goals is to set out a pathway to end the epidemic of smoking-related harm in Ireland. All measures to fulfil these objectives will be considered, including a general ban, which is the smoke-free generation. That is another thing. We are all working on the quit smoking campaign. Our objectives are clear. We want to put in place a law that is effective, proportionate, firm and focuses on protecting public health and the environment. Ireland is acting and doing its best in how we act decisively. In doing so, we are moving ahead of many of our European counterparts. An EU-wide approach would significantly strengthen the impact of our national action and ensure member states are supported in their efforts. That is why both I and the Minister for Health have consistently called for a revision of the tobacco products directive as soon as possible. However, we cannot afford to wait for EU actions. We have a responsibility to act where we can to protect the health of our children and young people. That is what this law and this next Bill I will bring to the House aims to do. This legislation is about prevention. By banning single-use vapes, we are taking further action to protect our young people from nicotine addiction and to prevent a new generation from becoming dependent on these products. Single-use vapes are designed to be cheap, attractive and easy to use. This is a contribution to the normalisation of nicotine use and it seems to have become normalised now. It is not good for our environment and public health either. This Bill prioritises the protection of children and young people from these harmful and addictive substances. I know it is an issue that all public representatives are concerned about and I hope Senators will work with us on these issues. This is about protecting health and well-being, particularly for our children. I thank everyone for raising the really relevant issues and concerns they have today. As I said, I will be in again with our second Bill. It is important that we all work together. This legislation is vital. I know there are challenges, as other speakers have said, but this is about our young people and what we need to do to move as quickly as possible. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-28/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-28