Latest news with #GarethChaney
Irish Examiner
16 hours ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
The Vapening: ‘In my school, I'd be in the minority for not vaping'
Though small, vapes leave a potent sweet trail behind which can be smelled in schools across the country, despite a ban on sales to children since December 2023, teenagers have told the Irish Examiner. One teen said she is a minority in her fifth-year class as a non-vaper, while another said teachers in her school have to chase vapers out of the bathrooms between classes. A third said some of his classmates started vaping as early as first year of secondary school. Some of the non-compliant vapes that were destroyed at the HSE offices in Naas, Co Kildare. Picture: Gareth Chaney Their experiences of how easy it is for school-children to still buy vapes or tobacco products comes as prosecutions under new laws ramp up led by the HSE National Environmental Health Service. The teenagers are members of the Foróige CRIB Youth & Family Support Project in Sligo. They studied the use of vapes, produced a report, and made a mock documentary, The Vapening. Ruth Bradley, 16, said: 'In my school I'd be more of a minority [for not vaping]. Honestly I don't like the smell.' They are also expensive, Ruth added. A still from 'The Vapening', a film made by teenagers who are members of the Foróige CRIB project in Sligo. You can view the film on ForoigeChannel on Youtube, or see link below. She described a school science experiment where they researched ingredients in cigarettes and e-cigarettes. 'That was an eye-opener for me,' she said. 'One ingredient in some vapes you could use for a disinfectant.' Wiktor Zuzewicz, 16, said he doesn't smoke or vape for health reasons. He said: You can't walk into a school bathroom and not have that smell — tons of people were vaping there. 'It's rare that you actually see the vapes now, people are hiding it more now.' He wants more supports for teens who want to quit, saying: 'Some of my classmates started in first year and they're still going.' Pearlgold Aideyan, 17, said vaping is more common than smoking across her age group. 'Some of my friends try to pressure me [to vape],' she said, adding: 'It's quite hard sometimes.' Disposable vapes in breach of regulations purchased in Waterford City. Picture: Joe Evans Pearlgold is already seeing people in her all-girls school cutting down because there are fewer places to buy vapes now. Girls can be suspended for vaping, she said, and since the teachers 'caught on' and check the toilets, it is becoming less common. Their mockumentary can be viewed here on the @ForoigeChannel on Youtube. They hope their satirical horror-film approach of reporting on vaping as an outbreak of an infectious disease will bring home a stop-vaping message. HSE prosecutions HSE environmental health officers monitor implementation of the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act 2023. They have successfully prosecuted 51 shops and businesses for selling vapes and tobacco products to under-18s last year. This included eight prosecutions specifically for vapes. Some shops were identified during sting operations when the HSE worked with teenage 'mystery shoppers' who tested the ban. Over the last two years, 22 prohibition orders were served for selling vapes with illegal nicotine content. Some 3,371 e-cigarettes and refill containers were removed. Last year, two businesses were successfully prosecuted in district courts and in 2022 so was an online business selling vapes from a private dwelling. Some 19 destruction orders were applied during 2022 and 2023. In 2023 they also seized 37.8 tonnes of illegal vapes or refills at ports and airports working with Customs and Revenue. Last year they seized 26.6 tonnes. HSE Assistant National Director for Environmental Health Ann Marie Part said: 'While the majority of retailers take active measures to confirm the age of someone buying tobacco or vape products, it is disappointing to see some retailers still selling to children. 'All it takes is a request for ID at the counter to ensure you are selling to someone over the legal age.' A display at the HSE offices in Naas, Co Kildare, of non-compliant vapes that are to be destroyed. Picture: Gareth Chaney The Irish Vape Vendors Association (IVVA) made submissions to Government on the age limits. Spokeswoman Joanne O'Connell said: 'IVVA shops have always been for over 18s.' Ms O'Connell, who heads up Vapourpal Ltd with shops across Munster, said this stance is easier to enforce now. 'Before the law came in we might get a bit of push-back because it wasn't the law,' she said. 'But now we just completely refuse, we don't have any problems.' She was reluctant to comment on where teenagers might get vapes, but pointed out they are sold in many sites other than dedicated shops. A former smoker who used vapes as an adult to quit, she is 'not the biggest fan' of Government plans to restrict flavours to tobacco only. 'A lot of people of all ages who use flavoured vapes don't want it to taste like tobacco, they want to get completely away from the smoking aspect of it,' she said. They have not been consulted on this legislation yet, but are open to that, she added. In medical circles, views are less positive towards vaping. Paul Kavanagh chairs the Royal College of Physicians' clinical advisory group on smoking and e-cigarettes. Can vapes help people quit smoking? Dr Kavanagh questioned the common argument that vaping is mainly a quit-smoking aid, arguing that if that were true, then higher vaping rates should mean lower tobacco use. In Ireland, tobacco use stopped declining in 2019 and since then there has been, he said 'unrestricted access' to vapes. 'So at a population level if there's an argument that having more and more people using e-cigarettes helps to reduce smoking prevalence, we have run that experiment here in Ireland,' he said. What that has led to is rapidly increasing e-cigarette use, particularly among children and young people, and at the same time we have not seen any further reduction in smoking prevalence in our population. Another common argument is that vaping is less harmful than smoking tobacco. 'We know that between one and two and two and three people who smoke will die of smoking-related disease. We know that on average people who smoke lose 10 years of life,' he said. 'Smoking is a leading cause of cancer. It causes heart disease, stroke, it causes lung disease. So how could you come up with a product that would be as harmful or more harmful than that? 'So we have to stop and call out this idea that something being not as harmful as smoking is somehow a suggestion the product is safe.' He emphasised that in Ireland this week 'almost 100 people are going to die from smoking-related diseases'. Dr Kavanagh urged e-cigarette manufacturers who believe their product can safely help adults to stop smoking to submit the device for regulatory assessment. The HSE does not recommend vaping in their Quit Smoking programme. Major conference in Dublin Links between vaping and the tobacco industry were a focus at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin this week. Yolonda Richardson, the president and CEO of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, was one of many Americans attending. 'We are interested in prevention,' she told the Irish Examiner. 'Nicotine is harmful to the developing brain, and so that's why we had no hesitation in moving quickly from the work where we were trying to prevent teens from smoking to preventing teens from vaping. 'We had no hesitation in moving quickly from the work where we were trying to prevent teens from smoking to preventing teens from vaping,' said Yolonda C Richardson of the US Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids at the World Conference on Tobacco Control in Dublin. File picture 'Because there is this misconception pretty much pushed by the tobacco industry and the vaping industry that vaping is better than smoking — and that's just not true for young kids, it really does negatively impact brain development.' She urged people to see vapes as part of a marketing strategy from the tobacco industry to gain new customers. A number of global tobacco companies advertise vaping products on their websites. The scale of the challenge is clear in data supplied by her campaign. Just 34 e-cigarette products and devices including tobacco and menthol flavours are approved in the US by the FDA but they said: 'It has denied marketing applications for millions of flavored e-cigarette products.' A scene from 'The Vapening', made by teenagers who are members of the Foróige CRIB project in Sligo, showing different types of vape. Ms Richardson also welcomed the growing understanding of the health risks. The national youth tobacco survey in American showed a decline in vape use among young Americans from a high of 20% in 2019 to just 5.9% last year. Here, 20% of women aged 15-24 use e-cigarettes either daily or occasionally; the rate for men of the same age group is 16%, the Healthy Ireland survey showed. At this week's conference, health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill re-committed to Ireland's plans to further reduce tobacco and e-cigarette use. Her focus, she said, 'is on helping as many young people as possible to avoid using tobacco and any other product which delivers any nicotine'. The conference also heard discussion of diseases other than cancer linked to smoking or vaping including heart disease and stroke. The Irish Heart Foundation's senior policy manager Mark Murphy echoed these fears. He pointed to a significant study published in the European Heart Journal. This found exposure to e-cigarette vapour causes damage to the heart and blood vessels as well as the brain and lungs. 'If you're a 60-year-old man trying to quit smoking and with vaping you can cut down your smoking, that's great — but we're concerned about the next generation,' he warned. 'You're up against an industry that has endless resources and it's up to health charities and health boards — who have limited budgets — to take it on.'
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- General
- Extra.ie
Domestic abuse at its highest in 50 years, but figures only show 'tip of the Iceberg'
New figures show domestic abuse is at an 'all-time high' in Ireland, with over 40 thousand cries for help to 'Women's Aid' in the past year alone. This marks an 18% increase on the previous year's figures and the highest in Women's Aid's 50-year history. The 'Women's Aid Annual Impact Report 2023′, outlines 40,048 calls for advice and help on its National Freephone Helpline and 28,638 Face to Face contacts – an 18% increase on the year before and the highest ever recorded by the charity. Pic: Shutterstock Reports of physical violence are up by a massive 74%, and economic abuse by 87%. According to this latest report, the abuse women are being subjected to by their partners, or ex-partners, is broad ranging, from coercive control, to physical assaults and death threats. Women have reported being attacked with weapons, having their every move watched, relentless put downs and humiliations, the taking and sharing of intimate images online, complete control over all family finances, sexual assault, rape and being threatened with theirs or their children's lives. Pic: Shutterstock Women's Aid says, 'The impacts on these women were chilling and ranged from exhaustion, isolation, and hopelessness to serious injury, suffering miscarriages, poverty, feeling a loss of identity and suicide ideation, hypervigilance, and homelessness'. Womens Aid went on to say, 'It is shocking that in our 50th year of service to women, we are still receiving record disclosures of domestic abuse. Especially as we noticed the rise in physical and economic abuse over the past year. 'Behind our harrowing statistics there are strong, resilient women who have taken a courageous step to share their story to our frontline services. We know that so many more women suffer alone, in silence and without specialist support.' Sarah Benson, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Women's Aid says 'The number and nature of the disclosures of abuse to our frontline services is utterly appalling. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg'. Sarah Benson, CEO of Women's Aid. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos Sarah Benson added, 'One in four women in Ireland is subjected to domestic abuse and there are also so many children, families and whole communities also impacted. Fear, stigma, and self-blame due to the impact of the abuse – but also persisting social attitudes to domestic violence prevent victims from coming forward. 'Irish society has changed for the better in so many ways over the last five decades. Yet, it is an undeniable fact that Women's Aid is busier than ever because we still live in an unequal society. At this very moment, there are many thousands of women and children living in fear of the person who should love, respect and care for them.'
Extra.ie
6 days ago
- Business
- Extra.ie
Department of Agriculture employee paid weekly rent of just €2
The Department of Agriculture was previously found to be charging €2 a week in rent to a former employee who was living in a cottage owned by the State. The revelation was made to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last year in a report about assets owned by the department. An examination team from the Comptroller and Auditor General C&AG) visited Backweston in Co. Kildare, where the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice have facilities. Georgian farmhouse known as 'Stacumny Cottage'. Pic: File The team discovered a Georgian farmhouse known as 'Stacumny Cottage' during the visit and found it was not recorded on the department's or the OPW's asset register. The department said the farm foreman lives in the farmhouse. The C&AG's examination found 'no clear business purpose or policy in place for the use of the cottage'. Stacumny Cottage had been previously occupied by a farm labourer and his family, and subsequently by his widow, until 2011. Former Green Party TD and then PAC member Marc Ó Cathasaigh. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins The PAC was told that there was confusion surrounding several cottages in Backweston estate, which led to the department choosing to rent one of the properties, Stacumny Cottage, to an employee since 2011. According to the report, the arrangement was put in place 'to mitigate against leaving the property vacant for lengthy periods of time and to prevent the property from becoming derelict'. An annual rent of €104 was charged to the employee, equating to just €2 per week. Former Green Party TD and then PAC member Marc Ó Cathasaigh spoke of his shock when he read the revelations in the report. 'I have to tell you, when I read this chapter, my jaw dropped,' he said at the time. 'It was decided we found a Georgian house. 'We didn't know the house was there, but then we found out that the farm foreman resides on the farm, but we found out there is no tenancy agreement in place. 'We find out about Stacumny Cottage that this is let to a member of staff for €104 a year, which is fairly good rent, I would think, in this market,' he added
Extra.ie
6 days ago
- Extra.ie
Crime teen's boast: 'You can't keep me in custody because Oberstown is full'
Teenage criminals are using WhatsApp groups to keep track of capacity levels at the country's main detention centre for young offenders, has learned. And when they become aware that Oberstown Children's Detention Centre is full, they then embark on 'crime sprees', safe in the knowledge they won't be detained. Gardaí became aware of the WhatsApp groups after teen criminals taken in for questioning bragged about them during Garda interviews. Oberstown Detention Centre. Pic: The revelation comes after Oberstown hit the headlines this week, following a court hearing that revealed there was no space for two juveniles at the centre last weekend. The 17-year-olds were accused, along with two adults, of being armed with a machine gun during a burglary in Shankill in Co. Dublin last week. Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan has acknowledged that the number of places for young offenders in detention centres needs to be increased. The overcrowding problems are now being exploited by teenage criminals who are actively monitoring capacity levels at the Oberstown facility in north Co. Dublin. Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos One senior security source told 'They know when Oberstown is at capacity and, as a result of that, they won't be going into custody. It is then they go on a right spree.' One teenage criminal arrested recently after a vehicle was hijacked told gardaí about the WhatsApp group during an interview. The source said: 'He was bragging that he would be going home because he knew Oberstown was full. 'The situation came to the fore this week with the juveniles, the machine gun and no bed at the inn, so they couldn't be remanded in custody.' The overcrowding crisis is also believed to be a factor in a spate of recent violent incidents at the juvenile detention centre. One Wednesday, nine staff members were assaulted at the facility, four of whom required hospital treatment. Teenagers are becoming aware that Oberstown Detention Centre is full. Pic: Getty Images Trade union Fòrsa has expressed 'grave concern' for the safety of members working at Oberstown. One Oberstown staff member was left with 'life-changing injuries' after their face was slashed in a 'very serious incident' on June 11, according to Fòrsa. The trade union said the incident occurred when a residential care worker attempted to move a young person. It also said ten staff have sustained injuries in three violent incidents since June 8. Mr O'Callaghan, this week, said he was 'very concerned' to hear there was no space for the two 17-year-olds who were involved in the armed burglary in Shankill. They were refused bail after the judge heard a 60-year-old man was 'savagely' beaten in front of his family during the burglary. When it emerged that Oberstown did not have any room, the teenagers were released on bail under 'house arrest' until their appearance at the Children's Court on Monday. But one of the boys who was released on Saturday night failed to attend his court hearing, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Mr O'Callaghan said: 'We need to ensure that if people under 18 years of age are charged with very serious offences, that there's accommodation and places available for them to be remanded in custody, and it's a failure that that wasn't available at the weekend. We need to increase the number of accommodation units available.' Irish Penal Reform Trust executive director Saoirse Brady has called for the introduction of a bail supervision scheme for young offenders, as well as the creation of more secure beds. Speaking on RTÉ's News At One this week, Ms Brady said: 'Judges have been calling this issue out for quite a long time now around the lack of availability of bed spaces in Oberstown for those who may pose a risk to public safety'. She said recent figures show that on any average day in May at the Oberstown facility, one in three young people were held on remand, meaning they had not been convicted of any offence.
Extra.ie
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Extra.ie
Policing model ‘an unmitigated disaster and unfit for purpose'
The Operational Policing Model (OPM), in place since 2019, has been an 'unmitigated disaster and is not fit for purpose', the Oireachtas Justice Committee will be told today. The OPM was introduced as part of the Government's reform programme, titled 'A Policing Service for Our Future', which emerged from the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. Both the Garda Representative Association (GRA) and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) will today outline their ongoing opposition to the new model. The general secretary of the GRA, Ronan Slevin, will say: 'The aim of this model was to modernise AGS [An Garda Síochána], by decentralising decision-making, enhancing community engagement, and improving frontline visibility. This has proved to be an unmitigated disaster and is not fit for purpose.' Ronan Slevin, General Secretary. Pic Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos Mr Slevin will add: 'This has created super-sized divisions that span across many counties and has starved communities of local stations and policing. In many ways, division is the key word here, as that is exactly what this model has caused between our trusted, dedicated members and the public and communities that they serve. 'Prior to the implementation of the OPM, Ireland possessed the most desired model of community policing in the policing world. As a result of the OPM, the local garda has been stripped from the community. 'Where previously the majority of incidents in country areas were investigated by the local garda, which resulted in increased local knowledge, now, under the OPM, most incidents, while investigated, are done so by gardaí stationed miles away with little or no knowledge of the community, and no real reason to expand that knowledge.' Pic: Collins Photos The AGSI, will say it is the 'resounding view' of its membership that the OPM has had a 'profoundly negative' effect on policing, and warn that it is 'well known' there is significant public dissatisfaction with the service delivery provided by the gardaí following its introduction. They will say it has been adapted from similar models utilised internationally, but will add that a 'fundamental and fatal flaw' is the architects of the Irish version 'failed to take account' of the unique policing and geographical requirements in this jurisdiction. It will say: 'The AGSI are now of the view the current operating model has negatively affected interactive community policing in this country. 'It is no surprise international police forces have recognised the fundamental flaws with the operating model and are withdrawing from this and returning to more traditional policing models.' The AGSI will acknowledge that there have been some 'positive developments' that have arisen out of the operating model, such as business services hubs, which transfer administration tasks to Garda staff. The association will say: 'The creation of Divisional Protective Service Units has been a very positive development for the organisation. However, this is an initiative that was not reliant on the introduction of the operating model and could have been established under the previous traditional policing model.' On retention, the AGSI will warn 'excessive' oversight and social media are some of the 'causes' affecting Garda morale. The GRA, meanwhile, will say there remains a 'massive issue with morale' with little action taken to address it. It will say that the continuous issuing of policies and procedures that members must comply with, and the excessive use of discipline and suspension, have resulted in members being in fear of receiving any form of complaint, as there is little trust in the discipline process.
