Tobacco Control Measures
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-06
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this really important issue today. The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act introduced a licensing system for the retail and sale of tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products such as vapes. This was enacted in 2023, so there was a three-year lead-in period to this measure. The Bill was passed three years ago.
The Act has a number of measures that aim to protect the health of our children and denormalise smoking. This is what the Act is for. The licensing system for tobacco products and nicotine-inhaling products came into effect on 2 February this year. Retailers that were already selling tobacco products or nicotine-inhaling products were given six months from that date to be become licensed. Any businesses that were registered to sell tobacco were also contacted by the HSE. Prior to the introduction of the licensing system a once-off registration and payment fee of €50 was the only thing that was required to sell tobacco products, with no payment or registration required for those who wished to sell vapes. An annual licence is now required for both. The fee is €1,000 for tobacco products and €800 to sell nicotine-inhaling products.
The licensing system will help the important work of the national environmental health service in enforcing our laws on tobacco and vapes, such as the ban on selling to under-18s. I keep saying it is illegal to sell to under-18s and we have to start enforcing that now. That is part of this as well. Because sellers must renew the licence annually, this means that our environmental health officers will have up-to-date information on where these products are being sold. This will contribute to efficiency in identifying anyone that is non-compliant.
The 2023 Act, including the licensing system, is a public health measure. The nature of the licence and the fees that accompany it are designed to make clear the harmful nature of the products being sold. This is what it is about. It is about health and well-being. Here is the information. Smoking still kills 4,500 of our people every year. This is not the only damage that it does in our country. As highlighted in the recent paper from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, smoking causes more harm here than alcohol, drugs and accidents combined. That harm includes almost 1,000 hospitalisations per week, as well as ten new cancers diagnosed every day that are caused by tobacco.
When our children smoke, there are additional risks to them. Smoking during childhood and adolescence causes both reduced lung function and impaired lung growth. In relation to vapes, it is generally agreed that although they are likely to be less harmful than tobacco, they are not harmless. An evidence review from the Health Research Board in 2020 found that for adolescents, the use of vapes is associated with an increased likelihood of smoking. In addition, the World Health Organization has recommended since 2014 that sales of e-cigarettes to minors should be banned as there is evidence to suggest that exposure to nicotine can have long-term consequences for brain development. The licensing system and the fees are designed to reflect the health harms caused by these addictive products but I thank the Senator for raising the issue today. In my remit, this is a health-led approach to this issue. I understand businesses too and we are mindful of the challenges there but when we see the evidence that is here, it is very important for us to have a health-led approach on this. I thank the Senator for raising this important issue.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-06/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:54+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-06