Updated Confirmation pledge to include ‘no vaping’

The pledge has been added for children making their confirmation from this year onwards.

The Confirmation Pledge, which already exists for drinking alcohol, smoking and taking drugs, has been reworded to include a promise not to vape before the age of 18.

About 40,000 young people make their confirmation each year across the island and take such a pledge.

The Irish Bishops' Drugs Initiative (IBDI) has added the updated 'no vaping' pledge for children making their confirmation from this year onwards.

Bishop Michael Router of IBDI said the church must ‘speak honestly about harm while challenging the social and cultural norms that contribute to it’.

He added that the addiction was taking a 'devastating toll' on individuals, families and communities alike.

Bishop Router further said that the cost of the addiction was 'beyond calculation' and has caused suffering, broken relationships, mental and physical health problems, criminality and social upheaval.

In 2024 the IBDI were involved in a campaign to ban vapes containing a synthetic cannabinoid called Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC), which was declared an illegal substance last year.

The pledge originated in the 19th century following a temperance movement led by Father Theobald Mathew before being linked with confirmation in the 1930s.

Bishop Router claimed the illegal drugs pledge was added in the late 1990s.

The updated pledge programme will cover the dangers and effects of alcohol, smoking and vaping, particularly its effects on a young persons brain.

Additionally, parents will be offered a series of podcasts with further information.