The Bill designed to prohibit the sale of disposable vapes concluded Second Stage in Dáil Éireann on Tuesday, having had an earlier debate in December prior to the Christmas break.
The Minister of State responsible for steering the Bill through its legislative process, Jennifer Murnane O Connor TD will rarely enjoy such an easy workload in terms of having to face hostility and difficulty from other contributors to the Debate, who numbered in excess of 30 over the two days.
Concluding the Debate, the Minister told the Dail that sufficient additional funding had been secured to provide for an extra Environmental Health Officer in each EHS office across the State to ensure compliance with this Bill once enacted.
While disposable vapes will not be permitted to be sold after a 6 month sell-through period has elapsed, it does not mean that they are illegal for a vaper to possess.
Retailers and those with an online presence in the State will be penalised with Class B fines (plus costs) of up to €4,000 on first offence should they continue to sell single use disposable vapes but it raises the question of how the State will respond to reports from the UK , where a similar ban on sales was implemented in July of last year.
It has been suggested that some companies have retrofitted disposable vapes to make them appear to be rechargeable products! No doubt this will be dealt with by way of Amendments at Committee Stage.
All members should remind their staff that it is an offence to sell any vaping or tobacco product to anyone below the age of 18.
The EHO’s have been very active throughout the country with Test Purchases and are bringing cases to Court on a weekly basis with fines and costs averaging €2,500.
THERE IS A SIMPLE WAY TO AVOID PROSECUTION – Seek ID and refuse to sell to those that cannot satisfy this requirement, particularly if they appear to be in their teens.
