Kids in Dundalk going 'in-and-out' of vape shops 'all the time' amid calls for crackdown
Sinn Féin TD for Louth Ruairí Ó Murchú said it is obvious that children under the age of 18 in Dundalk are regularly vaping
Sinn Féin TD for Louth, Ruairí Ó Murchú has said children in Dundalk are regularly going "in-and-out" of vape shops in the town.
Deputy Ó Murchú's comments came during a Dáíl debate on banning flavoured vapes across the country.
He said there has been an "overproliferation" of vape shops in Dundalk and said the issue has been raised with Louth County Council "a number of times".
The Sinn Féin TD said it is "very particular issue" and that there are "many types of retailers...very good ones and very bad ones".
"We have seen circumstances of kids outside, who are in and out all the time. It is very obvious that they are not over 18, whether you were checking IDs or not.
We have to make it easier, from the point of view of enforcement, that this would not happen," he said.
However, Deputy Ó Murchú questioned the effectiveness of a blanket-ban on flavoured vapes.
"We do not necessarily see the logic of a ban on all flavours except tobacco. While I accept it in regard to anything that is targeted specifically at kids, we have seen what has been done in New Zealand, where you have vape flavour names that are boring and a couple of standard flavours."
"There is a significant amount of work to do in relation to this and we really need to clamp down on anybody who is selling vapes with hexahydrocannabinol, HHC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, which are having a detrimental impact on an awful lot of our young people out there," he said.
Minister of State at the Department of Health, Jennifer Murnane O'Connor said banning flavours except for tobacco is "most likely to reduce the appeal for our younger people".
"In balancing this protection of young people with the help for adults who smoke, which came up today, we have found that vaping is not being substituted for smoking at a population level in adults," she said.
Minister Murnane O'Connor said dual use of tobacco and e-cigarettes is no longer associated with an intention to quit smoking.
She said one-in-six adults who vape have never smoked.
"There is no evidence that e-cigarette flavours increase the likelihood of quitting tobacco."
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.