Mark Mircescu, Photo Essay, Current Affairs

In the city centre, on every corner, on every street, one can find people who recreationally smoke vapes bought from the  new vape shop that opened up out of nowhere.

According to the Irish Independent, which was reported by the HSE, there are over 5,100 licensed retailers selling vapes and tobacco around Ireland with Dublin having over 1,100 licenses, more than any other county.

The Government are looking to crack down on vape shops around Dublin and to give local authorities the power to restrict the huge quantity and to stop shops from spreading outside of the city.

The following photo essay examines how vape shops have spread across the city, and looks at the areas where they have proliferated. 

 

The 4Twenty Store on Talbot Street before the Marlborough Green Line Luas stop, selling items that are vapes along with other items.

 

E-Cirette, a vape shop on Talbot Street.

According to Emma Harte, Policy & Campaign Manager of the Irish Cancer Society, vape brands use particular methods to lure in young customers. “Through colourful packaging and fruity flavours, it has been clear for some time that the tobacco industry has been cynically targeting their harmful e-cigarette products at children and young people. This is clearly an attempt to turn a generation of young people who have turned their back on traditional tobacco into a nicotine addicted generation,” Harte said.

A laptop and phone repair shop on Moore Street,

A lady walking pass smoking a vape in her hand with her bag on her shoulder near the TUD campus.

A group of individuals smoking near the playground in Smithfield.

“We also fear that e-cigarettes and nicotine products can lead to smoking with evidence from the Health Research Board showing that adolescents who had ever used e-cigarettes were 3 to 5 times more likely to start smoking compared to those who never used e-cigarettes,” said Harte.

Inside Hale Vaping’s store on Parnell Street with the counter selling different flavours of vape.

The Vape Club, in Stoneybatter, near to the TUD college.

“While focus has rightly been on tighter regulation of e-cigarettes, the tobacco industry is already pivoting to other novel nicotine products, such as nicotine pouches. Worryingly, nicotine pouches are already in our school’s classrooms with the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals warning that pouches are harder to detect due to lack of vapour. Schoolchildren are reported to be more irritable and lacking in concentration in class due to nicotine dependence,” said Harte.

Vape and Beyond, a vape store down in Smithfield that also sells other items aside from vapes.

Harte points out that The Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) (Amendment) Bill 2026  is currently working its way through the Oireachtas. “This legislation will restrict the marketing and flavours of nicotine inhaling products and also deals with wider emerging nicotine products, such as pouches. We do, however, have some concerns about specialised e-cigarette shops which wholly or mostly comprise vapes being excluded from point of sale signage and window display restrictions. We hope this can be addressed during the Committee Stage of this Bill,” she said.

 

ACADEMIC INTERGRITY:

All the images that were shot for this photo essay was done by myself.

In terms of individuals I tried to contact, I contacted Dublin City Council and The Irish Cancer Society, The only individual I was able to get a response from was from The Irish Cancer Society from Emma Harte, the Policy & Campaigns Manager while I haven’t recieved a response from DCC.