It is time to ban all use of vapes or e-cigarettes, according to former Mayor of Kilkenny and candidate in this year’s local elections, Seán Ó hArgáin. The Carlow/Kilkenny constituency motion he proposed to Labour Party conference at the weekend was overwhelmingly passed by the conference and accepted by party spokesperson, Duncan Smith TD. Speaking on the motion, Mr. Ó hArgáin, said he was speaking as a frustrated parent and on behalf of dozens of families who expressed similar frustrations with the huge growth of vape use among young people in particular:
‘The explosion of the sale and use of vapes has taken our society by surprise and left our government almost powerless in the face of this growing health crisis. Our city and town streets have suddenly become flooded with vape shops and our filling stations and supermarkets have seen these unregulated, untested and dangerous products pushed in our faces, while cigarettes are rightly being tightly controlled and locked away from public view.
The twenty year anniversary of the smoking ban in workplaces and social spaces is being utterly undermined by the arrival of vapes. Let us be quite clear. This is the fightback by the cigarette industry after a hugely successful and expensive information and public health campaign by successive governments over that time. The cynical targeting of teenagers and young adults sees Tik Tok and Instagram flooded with advertising aimed at young people shows how these companies are determined to win back our young people to addiction, poor health and indeed potential serious illness and even death.
The Australian government have taken the clearest action so far. They have introduced a total ban on the production and importation of vapes, with the exception of the tiny minority of people whose doctors certify that they need to use these products to help them stop smoking tobacco.
While I welcome the recent government ban on sales of vapes to under 18 year olds, I would question how this is and will be policed. We need to have the ability to check that this is being followed through. We all know that the purchase of alcohol and cigarettes by those over 18 for those who are younger presents huge challenges.
Ultimately, however, we need to take these dangerous products out of circulation totally. Our party in Kilkenny stood against the so-called ‘Head Shops’ in our city in 2010. We picketed these premises and held public meetings on the issue. The Minister for Health eventually listened and closed the shops and seized the products overnight. We need the same approach to these dangerous and unregulated products immediately.
We also need a serious discussion about online advertising of these products. Young people see the vast majority of advertising on their phones and their other electronic devices. The state should be empowered to stop this advertising, just as they can in the broadcast and print media.
I am also hugely concerned at the environmental damage being caused by these products. The dangerous materials in the batteries and casing of vapes are of major concern, while Keep Kilkenny Beautiful and other council refuse staff have noted the huge increase of vape-related litter on our streets. ’
Mr. Ó hArgáin also spoke on two issues during the live televised session of the conference, calling for a huge increase in the building of social housing in Kilkenny and throughout the country. He paid tribute to the recently deceased former TD and Housing Minister, Emmet Stagg, who hugely increased the building of social housing in the 1990’s. ‘We need to return to the state and our councils building houses for our young families, immediately and I commit to this being my number one priority if elected as a councillor.’
He also spoke on local government reform, saying that the recent report showing Ireland as having the fourth worst system of local government in Europe should lead to the immediate re-establishment of Kilkenny City Council and other town and city councils. ‘The so-called ‘Better Local Government’ action of ten years ago has had a hugely negative effect on democracy in our cities and towns. It should be reversed as Fianna Fáil and the Greens promised. I would particularly call on our local Junior Minister for Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, to explain why this promise is being broken.’
