I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, to the Chamber.

I thank the Minister of State for attending the Chamber. I ask what planning powers local authorities need to curb the proliferation of premises selling vapes and address the concentration of similar shops in our town centres. Somebody said to me yesterday that I may have been single-handedly responsible for bringing the word "proliferation" into the Seanad because I have used it so many times, as have my colleagues, when talking about the sheer number of shops selling vapes popping up across the country. The word means a rapid increase in the number of something, and that is exactly what we are talking about.

This could be about any village, town or city right across the country, but I will use my home town of Drogheda as an example. Ours is the largest town in Ireland but our town centre is concentrated mainly in four streets, in a crossroad right in the heart of the town. As an experiment, I drove around last night to make sure I am not talking nonsense here. On those four streets I counted 15 places selling vapes, 14 mobile phone shops, 13 nail bars and over ten barber shops. That is just in one crossroads area. Now, some premises overlap in that they are not just vape shops. Is it a mobile phone shop selling vapes? Is it a vape phone where you can buy mobile phones? It is really hard to tell any more as there are so many crossovers. The bottom line is that there are 15 places selling vapes in a very small area, and that is not taking in convenience shops on the outskirts or petrol stations. Just how many of these do we need in a concentrated area?

I raised this with Louth County Council senior executives on Friday. The term "lower order retail" was used, and I thought that was telling. We do not want vacant premises - we know that - but we do need variety and quality. We need shops that give people a reason to come into town. When that variety disappears elsewhere, the neighbourhoods die and the communities die. Our town centres were dying anyway, and now the proliferation of these businesses is killing off our town centres.

The Minister of State came to visit me in Drogheda last year. He can see it is a beautiful heritage town. Shopfronts and signage should respect that. Where planning or heritage requirements are being breached - and they are because we have some shop signs that look like Las Vegas rather than a heritage town - we need enforcement.

That is before I even start talking about the health concerns. I receive dozens of messages every week, especially every time I raise this in the Seanad, from concerned parents whose children are using these products. They are so freely available. The parents are asking for help. They describe children being attracted into the shops by sweets. Some of these shops are just masquerading as candy stores, as they call them now. They have not only sweets and soft drinks, which is another issue health-wise, but also colourful vapes with sugary, fruity flavours.

Parents have told me that their children are being sold vapes while in their school uniforms and that they are getting HHC products across the counter. We have made those illegal. Doing that is not allowed but it is happening, so those reports need investigation. It is a serious issue.

A good start would be a retail audit to establish how many premises sell vapes, their proximity to one another and to schools, and what everyday shops and services are missing. Planning policies already address fast food outlets near schools. Can we examine a similar approach? Can we consider a separate planning category for vape shops, while addressing vape sales in mixed businesses? Can councils be given clear powers to assess concentrations of similar businesses, alongside resources to enforce shop signage and shopfronts?

This goes beyond vapes. We need to look at what is already there, what is lacking and what would bring people back into town centres, so we can revive them. We have things like the living city initiative. We are giving vacancy grants. We have wonderful grants coming to my home town. They are into the millions of euro. What else will bring people into the town? I ask the Minister of State to work with local authorities and the Department of Health on practical proposals and with the Department of justice on enforcement where there is law-breaking and to give us a timetable for this action.

I visited Drogheda. It is a beautiful town. Every corner we turned and every street we walked down was rich in heritage and stunning architecture. I could see what a wonderful place it is, so I understand the Senator's concern. This is about balance. The Senator is right that there are vacant premises. In some instances, we cannot pick and choose what type of retail outlet takes up a vacant premises that would otherwise be empty and potentially derelict. However, I understand the Senator's point, especially about vaping, which is also a health issue and specifically about HCC, which we banned because of its potential psychotic consequences. We have seen them happen to some children. It has devastated their lives, so I appreciate the point. As the Senator referenced, in the past, local authorities introduced no-fry zones around schools. Clearly, there is a precedent, especially when it is a health issue, so that is an angle we should certainly work on.

I will read out the information on legislation and we might be able to pick out where it could apply. The national planning framework, NPF, recognises the strong link between our health and environment. This includes a national policy objective to support the objectives of public health policy. It includes Healthy Ireland, A Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013-2025 and the National Physical Activity Plan and integrating such policies, where appropriate and at the applicable scale, with planning policy. This policy support at national level is also translated into policies at regional and local levels through the regional spatial and economic strategies and city and county development plans.

The local authority development plan is the principal planning policy tool to achieve the NPF objectives at a local level. The zoning of land for particular purposes, including the use of land for retail development, housing, schools or other types of development is an exercise undertaken by planning authorities as part of their overall statutory planning function, generally as part of a development plan. All current development plans were adopted under the Planning and Development Act 2000. Sections 44 to 51 of the Act of 2024, which commenced in December 2025, require planning authorities to include various strategies and objectives in preparing development plans made under the 2024 Act. Section 45 of the Act requires local authorities to promote sustainable economic development, including retail provision. Section 84 (1) of the Planning and Development Act 2000 states:

A planning authority may, if it considers that all or part of an architectural conservation area is of special importance to, or as respects, the civic life or the architectural, historical, cultural or social character of a city or town in which it is situated, prepare a scheme setting out development objectives for the preservation and enhancement of that area, or part of that area, and providing for matters connected therewith.

The upcoming commencement of Part 4 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 will allow for a similar approach to be taken by planning authorities under section 335 of the 2024 Act. In determining planning applications, planning authorities may have regard to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, relevant development plan objectives, retail strategies, urban regeneration objectives and any applicable area-based planning schemes.

With regard to the specific categories of retail establishments and consideration within the process of granting planning permission, under the provisions of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001-2026, the definition of a shop includes a structure used for the retail of goods. The regulations do not specify what types of goods may or may not be sold in a shop. Accordingly, a change from one retail use to another retail use will not generally constitute a material change of use requiring the benefit of planning permission.

Essentially, from what I said - and this is not the Government pushing it back to local authorities - it is in the development plans that these types of issues can be teased out. For example, the Senator talked about the architectural, historical and heritage importance of many streets in Drogheda. That could be taken into account by the local authority development plan when it is being designed. As we saw in the past - and I will refer to it again - no-fry zones can be effective. Perhaps, because of the health impact of vaping, something similar could be considered at local authority level during the development of the development plan.

I thank the Minister of State for his response after, with all due respect, the waffle he read out. It did not address what the local authorities are telling me and every Member of both Houses. I am not making this up. It is a serious issue. No one is using some of these shops. There are far too many of them. We need to investigate why they are there. We need to talk to landlords and make it not attractive to put in these shops. Quite often, they are pop-up shops and are not really being used. That is a separate issue.

Local authorities tell me their hands are a little tied. That is why I am here. What is in the planning regulations is not working. It is not helping the local authorities. They want to be able to change the faces of our town centres. There is an onus on us to help them to do that, not just an onus on them to develop local development plans. Our town centres are dying and we need to breathe life back into them and these shops are not helping at all.

The Senator is absolutely right that we need to breathe new life into our town centres. Dublin City Council, for example, set up no-fry zones of 400 m or 500 m around schools. There is something in existing legislation that allowed it to do that. It was done through the development plan. That is exactly what I am talking about. A lot of development plans will be up for review in a few years' time. This should be given serious consideration.

There must be a balance. The Senator also referenced nail bars and barber shops. We cannot completely blacklist a lot of these retail outlets, but some are proliferating in towns, as the Senator said. They are popping up everywhere and vape shops are one of those types of shop. It must be asked what they offer to a town like Drogheda, my home town of Clonakilty or anywhere else. The Senator's point is relevant. We can look at the existing legislation and what allowed Dublin City Council to establish the no-fry zones, for example, and if that can be applied to vape shops.