My visit to Ireland last week coincided with the closing date for submissions to the Joint Committee on Health concerning a new government bill.
The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019 has gone unnoticed because legislation was first mooted almost five years ago when a public consultation took place inviting responses to proposed legislation concerning the ‘sale of tobacco products and non-medicinal nicotine delivery systems’.
Forest Ireland submitted a response in February 2015 but it all went quiet after that. There was no consultation report and nothing more was heard of the threatened legislation until a few months ago when the health committee published a ‘general scheme’ of a bill plus a regulatory impact analysis and invited comments from interested parties.
Cynics might say that the government has only acted now because a general election is due by May 2020 and pre-election legislation to curb the sale of tobacco and e-cigarettes is an easy win for a government that is currently struggling to win friends (and by-elections).
Indeed, the chances of it being seriously contested are very small because even e-cigarettes have very few friends in parliament, public health or the media in Ireland.
Anyway, as it currently stands, the Bill includes bans on:
It also includes the introduction of a retail licence fee for selling tobacco and vaping products.
Forest Ireland’s submission included this short summary:
Children should not smoke. However, instead of imposing further restrictions that discriminate against adult smokers, more could be done to enforce existing regulations. Instead of banning self-service vending machines, for example, which will unnecessarily inconvenience some adult consumers, we urge the government to do more to enforce the age restriction by working with publicans and others in the hospitality industry and beyond to encourage them to uphold the existing law, and to penalize and prosecute with greater vigour those who are found selling tobacco products to persons under the age of 18.
Requiring retailers to apply for a licence to sell tobacco or other nicotine inhaling products will merely add to the burden and red tape of running a small business. Worse, it could add to the cost of purchasing legitimate consumer products and drive consumers to the black market. We urge the government to think again and reject this measure.
Banning the sale of tobacco products from temporary or movable premises is yet another attack on legitimate consumers that restricts access to legal tobacco products for no good reason. Again, we urge the government to think again and reject this measure or exempt specific types of event (outdoor festivals and open air markets, for example).
Help and advice should be available for smokers who want to quit. However, smoking is a lifestyle choice and individuals must take responsibility for their actions. Further regulations that restrict consumer choice for adults are not the solution to the question of youth smoking which is a separate issue that cannot be addressed by the imposition of further laws.
We do not believe the government should set targets in relation to reducing smoking rates. The government’s role is to warn people of the potential health risks in a reasoned, measured, matter of fact way, not to coerce them to quit with the imposition of more and more laws in order to meet those targets. Adults should be free to choose how they live their lives without being subjected to unwarranted restrictions.
The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Bill 2019, will go to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Health in early 2020 when ‘experts’ will be invited to address the Committee in public session.
We have nominated Forest Ireland spokesman John Mallon who knows a thing or two about smoking and vaping having quit smoking (after 40 years) and switched to vaping two years ago.
I’ll keep you posted.