{"id":13325,"date":"2025-08-27T08:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T07:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T08:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T07:54:09","slug":"government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/","title":{"rendered":"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children’s health and wellbeing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nicotine pouches\u00a0should be viewed as a gateway to lifelong nicotine dependency<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The government\u2019s failure to regulate the sale of nicotine pouches poses an ongoing threat to children\u2019s health and wellbeing, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the Irish Cancer society has highlighted that popular festivals \u2013 like Electric Picnic \u2013 are partnering with nicotine pouch companies, which will further promote these products to young people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredibly disappointing to see festivals, attended by hundreds and thousands of people, used as vehicles to market nicotine products.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is now nearly two years since I first started raising the dangers posed by nicotine pouches and demanding urgent regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncredibly, the government has yet to act \u2013 despite the fact that the use of these pouches is proliferating among children and young people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not the only one who has sounded the alarm. The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals\u00a0have long called for the HSE to issue a health advisory notice on nicotine pouches, which are increasing prevalent in schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile these pouches are cynically branded as a safer alternative to smoking, in reality they should be viewed as a gateway to lifelong nicotine dependency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent years we have seen welcome restrictions on the sale of vaping products and e-cigarettes to under-18s, as well as legislation to ban disposable vapes and increase the minimum legal smoking age to 21.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government\u2019s failure to regulate the sale of nicotine pouches poses an ongoing threat to children\u2019s health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt must now get its act together and immediately introduce age restrictions and regulations on the sale and marketing of nicotine pouches.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicotine pouches\u00a0should be viewed as a gateway to lifelong nicotine dependency The government\u2019s failure to regulate the sale of nicotine pouches poses an ongoing threat to children\u2019s health and wellbeing, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. \u201cToday, the Irish Cancer society has highlighted that popular festivals \u2013 like Electric Picnic \u2013 are partnering with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children's health and wellbeing - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children's health and wellbeing - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nicotine pouches\u00a0should be viewed as a gateway to lifelong nicotine dependency The government\u2019s failure to regulate the sale of nicotine pouches poses an ongoing threat to children\u2019s health and wellbeing, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. \u201cToday, the Irish Cancer society has highlighted that popular festivals \u2013 like Electric Picnic \u2013 are partnering with […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-27T07:54:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jen-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"681\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children’s health and wellbeing\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-27T07:54:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":291,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Jen-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Jennifer Whitmore\",\"Press Release\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/\",\"name\":\"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children's health and wellbeing - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Jen-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-27T07:54:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Jen-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/Jen-2.jpg\",\"width\":681,\"height\":394},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children’s health and wellbeing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\",\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/press\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children's health and wellbeing - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children's health and wellbeing - Social Democrats","og_description":"Nicotine pouches\u00a0should be viewed as a gateway to lifelong nicotine dependency The government\u2019s failure to regulate the sale of nicotine pouches poses an ongoing threat to children\u2019s health and wellbeing, according to Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. \u201cToday, the Irish Cancer society has highlighted that popular festivals \u2013 like Electric Picnic \u2013 are partnering with […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2025-08-27T07:54:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":681,"height":394,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jen-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Officer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Officer","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/"},"author":{"name":"Press Officer","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7"},"headline":"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children’s health and wellbeing","datePublished":"2025-08-27T07:54:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/"},"wordCount":291,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jen-2.jpg","articleSection":["Health","Jennifer Whitmore","Press Release"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/","name":"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children's health and wellbeing - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jen-2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-27T07:54:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jen-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Jen-2.jpg","width":681,"height":394},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/government-failure-to-regulate-nicotine-pouches-poses-a-threat-to-childrens-health-and-wellbeing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Government failure to regulate nicotine pouches poses a threat to children’s health and wellbeing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7","name":"Press Officer","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/press\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}