North Mayo councillor calls for vapes to be banned

A north Mayo councillor has called for a ban on the sale of vapes afterconcerns were raised that there is an over-concentration of vape shops in Ballina.

The monthly meeting of the Ballina Municipal District heard calls from councillors for legislation to be introduced at national level to limit the number of vape shops allowed in town centres.

Fine Gael councillor Marie Therese Duffy told the meeting that there was a growing concern amongst the public at the number of vape shops which opened in Ballina in recent months and there was nothing the council could do about it.

“I am pro-business and none of us want to see vacant retail units at all and want to make sure our retail units are in use...but what people are saying is something needs to be done to address the loss of commercial diversity in our town. People are asking if we really need several of these shops selling primarily vaping products in the heart of our historic town centre,” she said.

The Ballina-based councillor said that under the current planning guidelines, vape shops are classified under general retail use and do not require planning permission for the change of use of the retail.

Cllr Duffy called on the municipal district to write to the Minister for Planning and the Planning Regulator to introduce legislation to make changes to rebalance 'the misuse of the town centres'.

“We need to ensure our public health is safeguarded and just like tobacco products, vapes are not in shop windows,” she said.

“We need to recategorise vape shops as a distinct planning application like betting shops and off licences and introduce a requirement of planning permission for vape shops. We should introduce variations in County Council plans regarding over concentration and develop a policy in terms of public health and location suitability and look at this collectively at a national and local level,” she said.

Cllr Duffy received support from her fellow councillors in the chamber who said they have all received representation from members of the public regarding the number of vape shops in Ballina.

Catahoirleach of the Ballina Municipal District, Cllr Annie May Reape said she was concerned at the number of young people who go into vape shops and called for them to be banned.

“My big gripe with them is they are open very late. I passed by one the other evening and all you could see were youngsters and that was after ten at night.

“We cannot do anything about them until the government legislates and I am hoping it will be brought before the Dáil. It has to be. The Taoiseach is very anti-smoking and was the Minister who brought in the smoking ban and I would be urging him to ban these as well. I do get that we need the rates but not at any cost,” she said.

Cllr John O'Hara said that vapes were not good for the youth of the town and there were too many of them in Ballina and it needed to be addressed.

Director of Services, Catherine McConnell said that Cllr Duffy hit the nail on the head regarding the lack of control local authorities have regarding allowing vape shops in town centres.

“It is really important that local authorities who are all affected by this issue bring this to the national government because it does require a change of the planning legislation. There is no point in us changing bylaws or any part of the County Development Plan because legislation thrumps that every time. It is unfortunate but that is the way it is.

“I think every local authority would be delighted to see some guidance or changes at national level to allow us to tackle that. It is something every high street in the country is experiencing at this point in time,” she said.