Ireland is “not ready” to follow Australia in banning vapes from general sale, according to a leading respiratory physician.

Australia this week became the first country in the world to make vapes a prescription-only product – banning their sale outside of pharmacies.

Pharmacies are also limited to selling menthol, mint and tobacco flavours in clear packaging.

The domestic manufacture and advertisement of disposable vape products has also been banned.

Ireland not ready

On Newstalk Breakfast today, Dr Luke Clancy, Director General of the Tobacco Free Institute of Ireland, said Ireland is not ready to follow suit.

“We should ban vapes, in so much as they are not good, but I don’t think we’re ready," he said.

“There seems to be a lack of commitment and a lack of belief in their harm.

“The debate has always been about whether they are for good or for harm.

“Some of us argue they're for harm, but the Government didn’t seem to be convinced that they were harmful in themselves.”

A man smoking a cigarette. Image: Jes2ufoto / Alamy Stock Photo

Dr Clancy noted that Ireland has lost focus on nicotine issues.

“It's been a long time since Ireland was first to do anything about smoking, 20 years to be exact,” he said.

“We’ve been banging on about vapes since 2016 when we showed that youngsters were using them extensively and tried to get something to happen.

“It was only last year that they even banned the sale of vapes to under-18s.”

Growing problem

The respiratory physician highlighted the growing problem of vape use among Irish youth.

“They're quoting percentages now that 40% of 16-year-olds have used them and 18% are using them regularly," he said.

“You’re three times more likely to smoke later in life if you vape as a child.

“We have a much greater problem that we haven’t tackled yet.”

Single-use disposable vapes lying discarded on the road. Credit: Richard Newton / Alamy Stock Photo

Dr Clancy criticised the authorities for failing to convince the public of the dangers of vaping.

“There is a scenario being put out there that vapes are for getting people to stop smoking and, without them, we’d have an explosion of smoking," he said.

“We know that to be untrue because we’ve seen a decline in smoking hugely over the last 20 or 30 years.

“Yet this narrative is abroad that if you took them out of the market, people would go back to smoking and others would start smoking.”

The e-cigarette market is currently valued at €116 million annually in Ireland and is projected to grow to €134 million by 2029.