Action Needed On Number Of Vape Shops In Wexford Town - Kelly

A local councillor is calling for Ireland to follow the UK's example when it comes to dealing with vape shops.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has promised to give local councils more power to reject businesses "that aren't good for our communities".

A number of premises selling vape products have popped up on Wexford's Main Street in recent years to the dismay of residents.

Independent Councillor Leonard Kelly says the UK is leading the way on this issue:

"We need that urgently in Ireland and unfortunately successive Governments haven't been doing.

"They are doing things around the edges like disposable vapes and the colour of them but for me, I would vapes should be sold in pharmacies only and eliminate the idea that they are a consumer good that is sold across our main street."

There's now a call for district councils to have the power to reject vape shops from popping up on main streets.

Councillor Kelly says local representatives need more powers to keep these businesses away from the high street.

He says it may be worth having a conversation about which is worse, vacant shop units or a proliferation of companies selling vape products.

It's an issue Councillor Kelly and his colleagues have raised at Wexford County Council meetings but he says the responses so far have been inadequate:

"We've been told there's very little we can do because they are considered to be a normal retail product and we have no powers to currently curtail the number of shops.

"I think there should be emergency legislation brought in so district councils can make decisions in relation to the numbers and density of vape shops that appear in their towns."

Wexford Town is caught between having too many vacant shop units and an accumulation of vape shops on it's main street.

Councillor Kelly says while vacant shops are bad, stores selling the wrong kind of product may be worse:

"Our towns are changing in terms of the offering of retail but I would far prefer to see less commerical units than a proliferation of units like vape shops across of our main streets.

"We need to start reimagining how our main streets look."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.