Zero refusals for vape licences so far in 2026
There have been no refusals for licences to sell nicotine products issued by the HSE in Cork and Kerry so far in 2026. There have been 772 licences granted this year across both counties, with 573 in Cork and 199 in Kerry.
The figures were released in response to a question from Cork City councillor Peter Horgan at the latest meeting of the HSE South West Health Forum, on Thursday 5 November.
Under section 11 of the Public Health (Tobacco Products and Nicotine Inhaling Products) Act, 2023, any person intending to sell the products named in the act are required to apply to the HSE for a licence.
In Cork in 2026, there have so far been 93 licences granted for the sale of nicotine inhaling products only - vapes - 88 for the sale of tobacco products only, and 392 for the sale of both.
Cork accounts for 10% of the 5,310 licences provided nationwide so far this year.
Cllr Peter Horgan (Labour) said that there was an issue with the concentration of vape shops in towns in Cork and Kerry.
"Everyone will know on Oliver Plunkett Street in Cork city that there's a lot of vape shops down there. Everyone will know in their own towns and areas, vape shops seem to congregate next to each other for want of a better word," he said.
An investigation in the Sunday Times published on Friday 23 October found that around one in seven primary and secondary schools in Ireland are within a short walk from school grounds, with 489 retail premises selling vaping products within 500 metres of at least one school.
Cork's Educate Together National School had the densest concentration. The school, located on Grattan Street in Cork's city centre, was within walking distance of 21 different shops selling vaping products.
Cllr Horgan suggested that a similar approach as is taken with off-licences could be taken with vape shops.
"You can't have an off-license under planning if it's within a certain curtilage of an existing off-licence.
"If that's one way to work proactively and retrospectively in our planning to say: 'Right, there's vape shops that are present under planning and they've been given their permission under the law as it is', but if we can change our development plans to say: 'Well, you can't have another vape retailer or a vape licence within X amount of metres', whatever that is, that could be a way of dealing with this," he said.
He said that a call from the HSE for inclusion of such measures in local authority development plans would be welcomed by councils.
Priscilla Lynch, speaking on behalf of the HSE, said that the organisation did not have a statutory involvement in the review of local authority development plans but "as part of the Healthy Cities coordinators, Healthy Counties coordinators, they are actively involved with respect to the review of the development plans as is public health.
"We're very happy to support in terms of what is the appropriate support of the narrative and the research with respect to it but I would be seeking councillors' help in flagging it as a significant area for consideration as part of the reviews of the development plans," she said.
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.