The Dáil is obviously wrapping up today. This will be my last legislative act in this Dáil term, and it is a very positive one for us to be finishing on, which is essentially aimed at moving the age, from 18 to 21, at which cigarettes or tobacco is sold to a consumer. Ireland led the way with the workplace smoking ban some years ago and we will be leading the way on this as well. It is very positive legislation with which to be wrapping up this Oireachtas. I thank the Senators for the opportunity to bring the Publi…

Maybe I will not, as it will take more than 30 seconds and colleagues have it. What I will say, if the Acting Chair will indulge me for maybe 60 seconds, is that this Bill is essentially a public safety Bill that aligns with many of the protections we are trying to put in place for young people. We have already brought in vaping legislation and are bringing in more. We are taking a very strong view in respect of online safety. This Bill is in line with that in the context of keeping young people safe. I hope it wil…

I thank colleagues for their contributions. Rather than giving a set-piece speech, I will address the various points that were made. With regard to retailers, I accept that we will have two separate ages, namely, 18 and 21, just like we did when, as was previously the case, cigarettes could be sold to 16-year-olds at the same time the legal age to purchase alcohol was 18. For many years, retailers successfully dealt with those two age limits of 16 and 18. I have full confidence that our retailers will be able to de…

Nonetheless, we consulted to see whether we could do it.

The new government in New Zealand pulled back from it. It withdrew the proposal. A former Prime Minister in the UK said the Government there was going to do the same but we have not had any indication from the Labour Party Government as to whether it will do it. I have been in discussions on the issue with my counterpart in Northern Ireland. It is easier in terms of enforcement when things are done on an all-island basis. I presented my proposal on this issue at an EU level and EU ministers are interested. The Dutc…

The advice I have from the officials is that this is how it is used in other legislation and that it works very well. I assure Senator McDowell that there was extensive consultation back and forth with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel on this to make sure we had it right. It is very confident that it is right. I have confirmation that it is the law at present. This is how it is used and interpreted by the courts.

Everybody seems to be happy with it. I am sure it was not Senator McDowell's advice when he served as Attorney General.

If we need to amend the legislation we will do so. The advice we have is that the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel is confident it is correct.

We are here to listen.

I, the officials and the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel are confident the current approach is correct and is legally robust. I thank colleagues for their support. I appreciate that there are always challenges when we bring these measures in, as there should and must be. Ultimately, we are speaking about saving many lives. We are speaking about significantly reducing the number of children, by which I mean those aged between 14 and 17, going into addiction. This will definitely happen. We will reduce smoking to…

I thank Senator McDowell for bringing this to our attention. In order to ensure there is no concern among Senators that the concerns raised will come to pass, I will read from section 45 of the Public Health (Tobacco) Act 2002, which is where this comes from. The section in question provides for exactly the same offence in the case of a person under the age of 18. Section 45(1) states: It shall be an offence for a person to sell a tobacco product ... to a person who has not attained the age of 18 years. We are remo…

I will leave that to the House. I am satisfied that the Attorney General between 1999 and 2002 was an eminent individual for whom I have great respect. When this Bill was crafted, it will have received advice at the time which was solid because it has held up for 22 years. I am not concerned. It is more or less a copy and paste. It does not add to what is a very reasonable question on the extent to which it is self-evident what the law means when someone produces a fraudulent age card. If somebody came in who, unde…

Is the Senator referring to section 45?

Yes. Section 45(2)(b) provides that it shall be a defence to prove that "the person specified in paragraph (a) produced to the first-mentioned person an age card, for the time being in force, relating to the person so specified." Essentially-----

An age card "relating to the person so specified". Essentially, it is saying that if somebody comes in with a fake ID, that is a defence - of course it is - for the retailer. I am comfortable that this provision has been successfully used in the course of the past 22 years. There was eminent legal advice from the Attorney General at the time and I am comfortable that it will survive the next 22 years.

I accept the Senator's bona fides but this was updated again in 2023. Again, it has gone through and is being used by the courts. It is self-evident that if we were to take that interpretation, it would mean it would have been okay up until now and indeed under the existing law we have today - the 2002 Act - for somebody to come in with an age card showing that they were under age and that would be a defence. I hear the Senator. I know his input is in good faith. In time to come, maybe a Minister for Health will ha…

Go raibh maith agat. I welcome all our guests. As Minister for Health, I extend a particular welcome to the nurses or retired nurses who are here with us today. I have had the great pleasure of visiting University Hospital Kerry on several occasions. There has been a transformation at the hospital in recent years. It has been under intense pressure. When I went there first, I was told about consultants having to do paperwork in their cars because they could not get offices. Our nursing staff were under sustained pr…

The existing ones will apply.

I thank both colleagues for their support. It is greatly appreciated. I will speak to the queries raised. The GMS levy will continue as is. There is a fairly modest prescription fee that applies to all GMS patients. That will still apply. The second question is an interesting one about whether we can in the future - and why we did not now - cover all associated costs. I am referring to, for example, GP consultations, coil insertion fees and payments to pharmacists. We examined this matter. I have allocated a large …

I thank Senators for their cross-party support. The free HRT scheme is an important step in the right direction and builds on a very determined agenda from this Government in terms of women's healthcare. The free contraception scheme is going very well. We are getting very strong feedback from healthcare providers and from women who are using the scheme. We have the free IVF scheme. We now have our first baby through the IVF scheme. An ever-increasing number of people are using the scheme. In the budget we expanded…