The Government and the Oireachtas have done a lot of good and very important work on limiting the appeal, availability and use of vapes. The single-use vapes Act, which has come into law, bans the sale and distribution of disposable single-use vapes and aims to reduce environmental waste and limit access to low-cost vaping. The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling) (Amendment) Act has banned fruit- and menthol-flavoured vape products and introduced restrictions on flavour descriptions, prohibition of display of vaping products and restrictions on their sale to under-18s. While there is a lead-in period for these Acts to come fully into force and we hope this reduces the number of vape shops, there is still a proliferation. Is the Government planning any additional changes to reduce the numbers of vapes shops on our high streets? There are some small towns with three or four vape shops, often near schools and busy roads and streets, and their visibility to young people is still there.

I accept the point the Deputy is making. I think vapes are shocking. They damage people’s health and more and more research is indicating the very negative impact of vapes on young people’s health and that of adults as well. We need even stronger regulation. The Deputy is correct. The Minister of State with responsibility for public health, Deputy Murnane O’Connor, along with the senior Minister, has introduced these two significant measures in terms of under-18s, narrowing point-of-sale displays, tastes and flavours and so on.

On the planning side, however, planning law does not distinguish between types of retail goods, so the regulation of vape sales, advertising and display rests primarily with the Minister for Health. There are retail planning guidelines. They do not allow regulation of shops by the products they sell; however, local authorities can address concentrations or impacts of particular retail uses to protect town centre vitality and visibility and ensure diverse retail offering, including litter, shopfront design and diversity of uses. There is room within those guidelines. I think we need to do more. I am talking to the Minister for housing about this. He has a lot on his plate in terms of the various planning statements his Department has to produce, but there is an issue here and many people are concerned about the proliferation of these shops.