Vaping around children could encourage them to take up the habit themselves, the Irish Heart Foundation has warned. 

Although there have been strict laws banning smoking in public places for years, it is perfectly legal to vape anywhere you want. 

The Irish Heart Foundation fears this means children are more likely to see people vape and consider it a normal thing to do. 

“If you’re a child or a teenager and you’re seeing people vape indoors, it’s renormalises the act of smoking,” spokesperson Mark Murphy told Henry McKean for Newstalk Breakfast.  

“That’s probably the biggest concern as well.” 

A schoolboy vaping. Picture by: Alamy.com

Although the HSE describes vaping as something that “may be less harmful” than smoking cigarettes, Mr Murphy said there are still clear health risks to vapers and those around them. 

“It’s certainly not harmless,” he said. 

“There’s more and more research coming out that second hand exposure to vaping aerosoles is not harmfree. 

“Second hand aerosoles increase the level of particulate matter and nicotine in the air. 

“That definitely has an effect on second hand bystanders.” 

‘Cheeky puff’

Out on the streets of Dublin, Henry found a growing awareness that vaping is bad for people’s health. 

One woman said it had been “easy” to quit cigarettes but was finding it much harder to give up on vapes. 

“I’ve tried multiple times to get off these and it’s very, very hard,” she said. 

“I’m not going to lie to you, I admit, I do it everywhere - it’s really bad.

“You don’t have to have a big puff everywhere, just a little one and that keeps you going. 

“If I’m in the shops with my Mam and I’m like, ‘I’ve had enough of this’, I take a cheeky puff and no one knows.” 

A man smoking an electronic cigarette and exhaling the smoke in October 2013. Picture by: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo

Another man told Henry he thought vaping was a “disgusting habit” and should not be done in close proximity to other people.

“It should be outside like smoking,” he said. 

“I was elevated up in the bar and people underneath me were vaping. 

“I asked a manager and the manager said, ‘Well, what can you do?’ 

“I said, ‘You should at least bar them away from the food areas because the smell of the different flavours, it’s horrible.’”

In late 2023, the Government banned the sale of vapes to those under 18 on health grounds.

Main image: A schoolboy vaping. Picture by: Alamy.com