Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-04
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Barry Ward (FG), Dún Laoghaire

I move amendment No. 2:
In page 8, line 17, to delete “A person shall not sell a single-use vape in the State.” and substitute the following:
"A person shall not invite an offer to treat for, offer for sale, keep for sale or sell a single-use vape in the State.".
Section 9 essentially creates a prohibition on the sale of single-use vapes. Section 9(1) provides that a person shall not sell a single-use vape in the State, subject to all the definitions that come earlier in the Bill. The amendment changes the wording of that. I am not in any way opposed to what the Bill is trying to do; I absolutely support it. There are other issues regarding the availability, for example, of what are known as "big puff" vapes, vapes with more than 2 ml of content or vapes that allow users to attach other things to them so that they have multiple cylinders. These have been banned in other European countries. They facilitate the use of much more significant vapes than was intended.
The amendment seeks to address the fact that section 9(1) only provides that certain vapes may not be sold. This means that in order to enforce this provision, you have to find somebody who has sold the vape or catch them in the process of selling it. That is remarkably difficult to do. It may involve undercover work by gardaí, for example. If we look at parallel provisions in the Finance Acts, for example, on the sale of tobacco or specified tobacco products without a tax stamp, the wording used in the Finance Acts is much broader than "You shall not sell". It is more about the circumstances around people who are trying to evade taxation by selling cigarettes that do not have a tax stamp because duty has not been paid on them. The wording used in that context is that the product cannot be kept or stored for sale and one cannot be in the preparation of sale, and all the other things that come with people who are selling products like this in contravention of the laws on taxation.
The reason I tabled the amendment is I have a genuine concern that section 9(1), as currently drafted, will be largely inoperable or, at the very least, extremely difficult to enforce. Any prosecution for an offence under section 9(1) will require proof that the person had sold the product or was, at that moment, in the process of selling it. For example, if gardaí were to raid a shop in which the shopkeeper had a load of these single-use vapes behind the counter ready to sell, no prosecution could ensue because the shopkeeper has not sold the vape, or at least the evidence in such a case would not be available to prove the person had sold it.
I suggest the wording of section 9(1) be remodelled to cover the whole spectrum of activity that leads to the sale of single-use vapes. This Bill is trying to get this stuff off shop shelves, out of the hands of teenagers and off the streets. Every one of us knows the litter that arises from vapes. They are left all over the place when they have been used by particular groups who are not particularly conscientious about disposing of the vapes. There is also the damage they do to the environment even when they are disposed of.
If we are serious about tackling the problem by stopping people from selling them, it cannot just be about the momentary act of the sale. It has to be about all the things that go around that, including the preparation for it and the keeping of the goods. It is slightly ridiculous that gardaí could identify a shop that is potentially selling single-use vapes, but unless they are in the shop or they send somebody in undercover in a sting operation to buy a single-use vape who could then testify in court later that it was sold to them, they simply will not be able to mount a credible prosecution. That will render the provision in section 9(1) largely inoperable. That is why I suggest changing the wording.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:43+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-04