PEOPLE ARE BEING failed by the sheer volume of vapes being illegally sold in Ireland, our investigation over the past month has shown.

Experts told us this was a failure of enforcement by authorities and of regulation by the government.

When The Journal Investigates set out to examine the vaping industry late last year, our team did not expect to find that over 80% of the shops we visited sold us a disposable vape that breached regulations.

I was part of the undercover team that bought vapes around Dublin.

We had compiled a list of what vapes should have in terms of warning labels, sealed packaging, volume of e-liquid and other specifications.

Armed with that knowledge, we popped into every shop we passed that sold vapes in the city centre one morning in December.

We knew instantly that a handful broke the law, in particular disposable vapes with more than 2ml e-liquid.

Vapes with more than this volume have appeared on the EU rapid alert system with warnings stating that the excessive volume of liquid could lead to “the accidental consumption of a high dose of nicotine”.

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But on closer examination when we analysed each of the vapes, it turned out that our team ended up with far more law-breaking vapes than we initially realised.

We were prepared with a list of what to look out for. How can people who just walk in off the street be certain the vapes they buy are safe?

Our investigation shows that right now people certainly aren’t getting the assurances they should be.

Screengrab from our undercover footage showing vapes with over the legal limit of e-liquid for sale. Image: Maria........

© TheJournal