If this legislation is passed, up to 60,000 adults could return to smoking.
Please ask the Minister for Health to exclude some flavoured vapes from the Government’s proposed ban on all flavours, as such a ban will lead to almost 60,000 adults returning to smoking.
The High Cost of a Flawed Bill
Smoking kills 6,000 people in Ireland every year. Vaping is helping up to 320,000 smokers quit.
For many adults who have successfully quit smoking through vaping, flavours like mint and a selected number of fruit flavours are crucial in staying off cigarettes.
Removing these flavours punishes adults who made the responsible choice to quit smoking.
Independent research (Red C 2025) shows that 58,000 former adult smokers in Ireland could relapse if all vape flavours are banned. This is deeply concerning and entirely avoidable.
Learning from the World: Success vs. Black Markets
The proposed ban is a win for Big Tobacco and criminals in the black market.
It makes more sense to listen to the voice of adult vapers now, rather than waiting to review the ban on flavours in 3 years’ time, as proposed in the Bill.
New Zealand did and now has a short list of permitted vape flavours for adults. They have achieved one of the lowest smoking rates in the world (6.8%) through this balanced approach.
The Red C poll confirmed that the Government’s proposed ban on flavoured vapes will drive ex-smokers back to cigarettes and fuel a black market for flavoured vapes.
Please get the Government to reconsider this measure and protect access to the flavours that so many former adult smokers depend on to remain smoke-free.
Data Doesn’t Lie: The Red C Findings
Evidence of negative impact on a flavour ban
- Since Australia cracked down on flavoured vapes it created a black-market boom. Nicotine products being the second-largest illegal substance in the country.
- Tholos Foundation research found that when Denmark banned flavours in 2022, they remained easily available. Over 50% of Danish vapers still used flavours after the ban.
- A recent study by the UK’s Royal College of Physicians found that limiting access to flavours could prevent the use of vaping as a quit tool. This underscores the importance of giving smokers access to flavours.
- Sweden, who have led the way in relation to achieving a ‘Smoke-Free’ nation, decided against a flavour ban in 2022.
