Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 October 2021
367. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Health the details of the total public expenditure committed to the Tobacco Free Ireland initiative in 2019 and 2020 within his Department, the health and well-being programme and the Health Service Executive, including all prevention and cessation programmes be provided in view of the progress reported in the recent Tobacco Free Ireland Annual Report 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48748/21]
View answerThe Healthy Ireland Framework was adopted by the Irish Government in October 2013. Tobacco Free Ireland was the first policy document to be launched under the framework and plays a major part in achieving the vision set out in Healthy Ireland. Tobacco Free Ireland aims to denormalise smoking and to protect children from the dangers of tobacco consumption. It sets a target for Ireland to be tobacco free (i.e. with a prevalence rate of less than 5%) by 2025.
Prevention is primarily carried out through tobacco control legislation. Legislation (based on the WHO MPOWER evidence based measures) implemented in recent years includes the introduction of standardised packaging and a ban on smoking in cars. The current legislative project will license the retail sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products and will ban the sale of tobacco products through automatic vending machines.
Seeking to increase the price of tobacco products in each budget is also an important action under the MPOWER principles.
Other important prevention measures include warning young people about the dangers of smoking and 2020 saw the inclusion of information on the dangers of tobacco use in Healthy Choices 1, the first substance misuse module of Junior Cycle - Social, Personal and Health Education, aimed at first year students.
Tobacco cessation measures include; smoking cessation medications provided to medical card holders through the Primary Care Reimbursement Scheme, frontline HSE intensive smoking cessation services, the national quit line and mass media campaigns. The quit campaign aims to increase the demand for QUIT support services and the national quitline. The total amount spent on smoking cessation services by the Tobacco Free Ireland programme was €13m in 2019 and estimated to be the same for 2020.
