Local Labour TD Marie Sherlock has welcomed plans by the government to ban the sale of single-use vapes.
In a rare show of the government and opposition agreeing on something, both sides of the Dáil agreed on the need to ban single-use vapes.
Sherlock, in her role as Labour’s health spokesperson, welcomed the government’s plans, but said that the government should be keeping their eye on the nicotine ball.
While acknowledging that vaping is part of people’s journey to quit smoking, she says a “new dependency” has emerged, and it’s having a negative impact on people’s health and the environment around them.
The Dublin Central TD said, “any of us walking around our communities can see that with our eyes. Anybody involved in Tidy Towns can tell us what is happening on our streets. That requires a response.”
A total of 31 million vapes were sold in Ireland last year, yet just 1.1 million vapes were recycled.
Sherlock said she was “shocked” when the figures were revealed, and added that “the reality is that vapes are simply not being recycled.”
The Labour health spokesperson pointed to the nicotine element of vaping, and said that it is the major issue that the government must tackle.
She said, “the reality for us at the moment is that the nicotine industry, because that is who is driving the sale and growth of vapes, are creating a new generation of dependants to effectively generate a profit.”
“Nicotine is highly addictive and harmful. It has an impact on adolescent brain development – and yet, significant numbers of teenagers and young people are now vaping.
“We cannot have a new generation – another generation – effectively addicted to nicotine products with all the issues that go with that.”
She noted that the government set a target in 2013 to reduce the number of Irish smokers to 5% of the population, but the current figures are somewhere between 15 to 20%.
While noting the figures are higher than she’d like, she said at least that indicates the government has a plan to tackle smoking, but that isn’t the case with vaping.
She said that a tax on vaping, or minimum pricing, would help combat the number of people who vape in Ireland.
“There will be people looking at this who want to give up smoking. They are looking for an alternative and want that help. I accept that they would feel aggrieved when they heard that message; but we have to look at who is taking up vaping who has never smoked a day in their life and wonder how we can tackle some of that as well.”