Cork City Council shouldn’t allow garish vape shop displays, councillor says

Legislation banning vaping is welcome, but Cork City Council can have a role to play by not allowing “garish” vape shop displays, a councillor has said.

A discussion was had around vaping at the most recent Regional Health Forum, following a motion that the forum would call on the Minister for Health and the Government to introduce legislation to ban the use of vaping products in indoor public spaces, workplaces, and other designated areas, similar to the existing smoking ban.

The motion, proposed by Kerry councillor Mikey Sheehy, received widespread support at the meeting, with several councillors speaking in favour of it including Cork’s Dr John Sheehan, a Blackpool GP and councillor for the North West ward.

Labour councillor for the South East ward Peter Horgan told The Echo that legislating against vaping was important, but there was a role for local authorities to play too.

“There’s a need to address it through marketing, councils should be coming down hard on it from a planning angle."

Cork city council’s shopfront policy states: “Works for the alteration of existing ground floor shop fronts shall be consistent with the fenestration details and architectural and streetscape character of the remainder of the structure or of neighbouring structures.”

Mr Horgan said: “At the moment, you walk down Patrick Street or go to any shopping centre and you see these vaping stores; the colours of the disposable vapes which are designed to be attractive to children, they are littering our communities, and you see the stickering from them all over bins outside shops — it’s insidious.”

He added that he had encouraged the HSE to launch a campaign, even just on social media, about the dangers of vaping, saying: “While it was designed to get people off smoking, now it seems the tobacco companies have just found another way to get people hooked.

“The garish signage we see across the city centre by vaping shops is wrong, especially compared to if you buy a pack of cigarettes, you see pictures of lung disease.

“When you would come home from a night out your jacket used to stink of smoke, now it stinks of watermelon cherry, but the health implications are really insidious.

“We can step up in terms of planning, we don’t allow alcohol and cigarettes to be marketed like that, so why are we allowing them to push vaping products this way?

The Echo has contacted Cork City Council for comment.