Health

Minimum smoking age to rise to 21 in new Bill as Opposition warns more action needed on vaping

Minister says legislation is ‘end-game measure, signalling beginning of the end of tobacco in our country’

PICTURE POSED MY MODEL File photo dated 12/03/13 of a man lighting a cigarette as poor diet and smoking are the biggest risks which may cause premature death or disability among people living in England, according to a new study led by Public Health England (PHE). PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Tuesday September 15, 2015. Researchers found that 40% of the NHS's workload is due to potentially preventable factors and that the impact of an unhealthy diet accounted for 10.8% of the disease burden while tobacco accounted for 10.7%. See PA story HEALTH Expectancy. Photo credit should read: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

The Growing Up in Ireland 2023 survey found that 9% of 13-year-olds had tried vaping but just 3% had actually smoked a cigarette. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Marie O'Halloran
Thu Jul 4 2024 - 20:09

aThe minimum legal age for smoking will rise from 18 to 21 under legislation introduced in the Dáil by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly but opposition TDs have warned that action on vaping is far more urgent.

Mr Donnelly said the purpose of the Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill “is to begin to eliminate them from our lives and the lives of our children”. It is an “end-game measure, signalling the beginning of the end of tobacco in our country”.

Sinn Féin health spokesman David Cullinane said however that the “proposal does not affect vaping, meaning it does not affect access to nicotine”.

“Many young people have been exposed to vaping because it was legal for several years to sell vapes to children. The Government has not regulated advertising, packaging or flavouring that is designed to target children.”

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Introducing the Bill, Mr Donnelly said: “If we raise our age of sale to 21, it will directly impact those who may have tried smoking at a younger age but do not become regular smokers until age 18 or above.”

“Data from the EU and the UK show that nearly 40 per cent of smokers become regular smokers between the ages of 18 and 25, while US data shows that more than 11 per cent become daily smokers between the ages of 18 and 20.”

When passed the legislation will come into effect from February 2028 making Ireland the first EU country to ban smoking for those under 21. The penalties include fines of up to €4,000 or up to six months imprisonment or both for a first offence.

In 2002 before the introduction of the ban in workplaces some 27 per cent of adults smoked and it is currently 18 per cent.

Mr Donnelly said many people addicted to class A drugs found it even harder to stop smoking than detoxing from drugs.

Mr Cullinane said however that the Bill is “on one hand superficial, and on the other hand impractical as an approach”.

“The idea that an 18-year-old can join the Defence Forces, buy a vape or buy alcohol, but cannot buy a cigarette is unreasonable, and probably more importantly unenforceable.”

Cigarettes will continue to be available “but it will push more trade into the tobacco black market” and “an issue like this will have implications for cross-Border trade”.

Sinn Féin Cork North-Central TD Thomas Gould said “people can walk outside of Leinster House today and go into a shop and buy candyfloss, Red Bull and pink lemonade vapes with beautiful pink and yellow colours specifically targeted at younger people. The Minister has done nothing to ban these”, and young people will still be able to buy vapes with nicotine.

“We have banned the advertising of cigarettes” but the cigarette machines now advertise vaping products and “the Minister has done nothing to ban their advertisement, especially those targeted at young people”.

Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall welcomed the Bill saying “there is potential for Ireland to be a leader in this area” but the legislation fell far short and “far great urgency should be applied to passing stricter vaping laws”.

Ms Shortall pointed to the Growing Up in Ireland 2023 survey which found that 9 per cent of 13-year-olds had tried vaping but just 3 per cent had actually smoked a cigarette.

A Foróige study found that 36 per cent of 13 to 16-year-olds said that they had vaped. “That is a huge number and is more than one third. There is a real urgency about that and I do not think it is getting the attention it needs,” Ms Shortall said.

Marie O'Halloran

Marie O'Halloran

Marie O'Halloran is Parliamentary Correspondent of The Irish Times

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