450. Deputy John Paul Phelan asked the Minister for Health the reason for the decision not to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny on the The Public Health (Tobacco) (Amendment) Bill 2024 on raising the legal age for tobacco products to 21 years; for an update on plans to publish a regulatory impact assessment with regards to this planned legislation; the timeline for when his Department will publish the responses to the consultation on tobacco in December of 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28717/24]

With the agreement of Government, I sought a waiver from pre legislative scrutiny on the basis of the narrow scope of the Bill. I am grateful to the Joint Committee for granting that waiver.

I intend to publish both the regulatory impact assessment and the public consultation report in the coming weeks.