Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) (Amendment) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (FF), Carlow-Kilkenny

I know it was a big issue for the Senator.
On the issue of restriction of flavours which would push people back into smoking, research from other countries has shown that users respond to flavour restrictions in different ways. From reports we have received, they include switching to permanent flavours or sourcing flavours, that is, e-liquids elsewhere; quitting vaping; quitting all nicotine products, including tobacco; or switching to other nicotine products, including tobacco. The most relevant evidence to Ireland comes from the Netherlands, which found that its ban on all flavours except tobacco led to overall decreases in both vaping and smoking. We are very mindful of it and a lot of funding has gone into the quit smoking campaign we use. We are constantly putting extra funding into that and tobacco free generation measures are really important. Tobacco is a uniquely lethal product when used as intended. It causes almost 100 deaths and 1,000 hospitalisations each week in Ireland. There is no age at which it becomes safe to consume tobacco so we are not encouraging anyone to go back on cigarettes or to vape.
Our national tobacco control policy, Tobacco Free Ireland, is currently being reviewed. It is important to let everyone know that we are reviewing this. One of the central goals will be to set out a pathway to end the tobacco-related harm in Ireland. My officials and I are considering all measures to fulfil this objective, including a generational ban. That is what we are looking at now. It might take a bit of time but we are considering that possibility. The Minister and I are actively developing our own proposals, which are similar to those in the UK.
This is important. We need to make changes. We all know that vapes are more targeted at our younger people. We need to ensure that we get the information out there through the awareness campaign. We were at a festival recently. I asked that the HSE do a vaping awareness campaign about the harmfulness of vaping in the HSE tent at a huge farming event. I might as well say that it was at the ploughing championships. You have to be careful when you mention something in the House. I had the campaign there and it targeted a lot of young people. Over the past year and a half, more than €500,000 has gone into awareness campaigns about the harm of vaping. I will continue to do that. We can only say that it is important to get this Bill through as quickly as we can. This is all about the younger generation and older generations, and all of us working together. We must ensure that we give the proper information about the harmfulness and dangers. I thank Senators for their support. It is important that we get this Bill in.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-22