The Government’s decision to slow walk a Sinn Féin proposal to restrict the sale of Nitrous Oxide has left it looking complacent about a serious and growing problem.
Tallaght Hospital reported 18 cases in the past 20 months of young people presenting with Nitrous Oxide related neurological conditions while more than 1,000 canisters of the gas are seized at Irish ports every week, according to Sinn Féin.
Days after Government deputies voted to postpone for nine months the second stage of Sinn Féin’s bill on the Sale of Nitrous Oxide and Related Products, research emerged showing an increase in young Irish people suffering spinal cord damage as consequence of using the gas.
The study – published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology – came with a warning from the authors that teenagers continue to see the use of the gas to get high as a harmless fun. The sale of the gas for recreational use is illegal, but enforcement of the law is difficult because it is widely used in catering and for medical purposes.
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Sinn Féin’s bill would require sellers of the gas to be licensed and allows purchases only by an approved list of buyers. There are obvious difficulties and costs with this proposal, but the reality is that Government will have to bring forward its own similar proposals. Last year European regulators classified Nitrous Oxide as harmful to reproductive health and likely to cause damage to the nervous system. This classification, which effectively prohibits sale of the gas to the general public, will apply from February 2027.
This gives the Government 12 months to find a workable plan to implement the regulations. It will doubtlessly encounter the same problems they have identified in Sinn Féin’s bill namely that it would impose a “considerable regulatory and financial burden on reputable sellers, as well as significant cost to the Exchequer”.
Regardless of how the Government proceeds on regulation, a concerted effort to explain the dangers of Nitrous Oxide to teenagers is necessary. If ever there was an issue of public concern suitable to cross party approach this is surely one.
