Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that he will ban disposable vapes and crack down on the targeted marketing strategies of the multi-billion euro industry.

After tightening restrictions on the sale of disposable vapes earlier in the summer, the Irish Government have now revealed that they are planning to unveil a new bill which bans the sale of disposable e-cigarettes entirely.

Resembling the UK’s plan to remove disposable vapes from shop shelves, the Irish Government have not yet unveiled a date for when the bans will come into place.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly revealed that the upcoming legislation plans to target “advertising, flavour and point of sale”. He also said that a considerable amount of marketing surrounding vapes is blatantly targeted towards younger people.

Minister Donnelly also acknowledged the environmental impact of vapes and how the single-use plastic vapes will be most likely banned, if not by them, then by overarching EU legislation. Mr Donnelly also insisted that if the EU did not ban the product quickly enough, then Ireland would take additional domestic action.

The vape industry’s market share has been almost exponentially growing, post-pandemic. The NHS released a study finding that one-fifth of all British 15-year-olds vape, with Irish numbers mirroring this at 10-18 per cent of 11-18-year-olds vaping.

Pushback has continually increased against disposable vapes such as major festival groups in the UK and Ireland banning vapes on their premises this summer. Three million vapes are thrown away per week globally. Due to Ireland’s substandard recycling facilities, only the lithium batteries can be recycled when removed from the plastic casing, causing almost all to end up in landfills.

Elsewhere on District: We Need To Talk About Disposable Vapes