HSE Test Purchases Show Over One in Five Vape Retailers Found Selling to Children.
Despite the under-18 sales ban, 51 retailers failed compliance checks between January and October 2025.
More than a fifth of vape shops tested are selling highly addictive vaping devices to children, despite a ban on sales to under 18 year olds, since 2023.
Between January and October last year, (2025), 51 retailers were caught selling vapes to children. This represented more than 22% of the 224 shops where inspectors carried out tests to see if the devices would be sold to under-18s.
Inspections were carried out by the HSE’s National Environmental Health Service, which is responsible for enforcing a 2023 law that banned the sale of nicotine-inhaling vaping products to children. The ban came into effect on December 22nd, 2023.
Retailers caught selling vapes to under-18s face a fine of up to €4,000 and up to six months in prison.
Tipperary: local enforcement: While the HSE figures on failed test purchases are published nationally (and do not provide a county-by-county breakdown), HSE tobacco-control conviction lists for 2025 include recorded enforcement outcomes in Co Tipperary, including: Thurles, Co Tipperary(HSE West / North Tipperary): a retail premises listed with an outcome of €500 fine plus €1,400 costs under Section 28 of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts (date of court: 15 April 2025). Cashel, Co Tipperary(HSE South / South Tipperary): a licensed premises listed with an outcome of €500 fine plus €1,150 costs under Section 47 of the Public Health (Tobacco) Acts (date of court: 5 June 2025). Note: The published conviction list records outcomes under tobacco-control legislation and may relate to tobacco products and/or nicotine-inhaling products, depending on the case. Details outlined HERE.
Ireland also regulates the safety, quality and advertising of vapes through a 2016 European Union directive. Since March 2024 the HSE has had the power to carry out “test purchasing” to detect retailers who may be continuing to sell vapes to children. In 2024, the HSE carried out 256 inspections to make sure basic regulations on the sale of vapes were being upheld. From these inspections, 14 prohibition orders stopping the sale of unregulated vapes were served on shops which the HSE felt were not complying with the law.
A proposed law to ban the sale of disposable electronic cigarettes or vapes is making its way through the Oireachtas. One of the purposes of the Bill is to make vapes less attractive or accessible to children by banning cheaper disposable vapes. It will also restrict the flavours of vapes and limit any description of a flavour other than its basic name. Colours and images on vape packaging will also be restricted.
The law is also designed to lessen the environmental impact of the disposable nicotine products.
The Public Health (Single Use Vapes) Bill is now being asked to include an outright ban on brightly coloured and sweetly flavoured nicotine devices, which, it is alleged, are targeted at children. At committee stage on the disposable vapes Bill, the Government is understood to be addressing these issues.
The Child Law Project, under the executive directorship of Dr Carol Coulter, has been commissioned by the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to deliver a new Family Law Reporting Project, aimed at improving public understanding of private family law proceedings, while safeguarding the privacy of children and their families.
This project was awarded following a competitive procurement process that was launched on August 21st 2025 last. It is intended to build confidence in how private family law disputes are determined by the courts, while ensuring proceedings continue to remain private for those involved.
The Family Law Reporting Project is an initiative under Goal 6 (Data, Information and Management) of the Government’s Family Justice Strategy 2022-2025, which commits to improving data collection and sharing across the family justice system. Once established, the project is expected to run for three years.
Dr Coulter founded the Child Law Project in 2012 and has served as Executive Director since then. She is a former Legal Affairs Editor of The Irish Times and previously ran a pilot family law reporting project for the Courts Service in 2006/2007.
So what will the project will do:
Once operational, the Family Law Reporting Project is expected to:
Gather and analyse information on key aspects of private family law cases to support statistical reporting and trend analysis.
Produce accessible, anonymised reporting to enhance transparency and understanding of proceedings, while maintaining privacy protections for children and families.
Background The Family Justice Strategy is also committed to reviewing the operation of the in-camera rule. An independent research report published in May 2025 made 21 recommendations on balancing transparency with the privacy rights of families and children, including recommendations related to private family law reporting.
Homelessness in Ireland hits new record, with almost 17,000 people in emergency accommodation in November 2025.
Homelessness has risen to yet another record high, with 16,996 people accessing State-funded emergency accommodation in November 2025, according to the latest monthly report from the Department of Housing. The figures show 11,675 adults and 5,321 children were in emergency accommodation during the week 24–30 November, an increase of around 200 compared with October (16,766). The data also points to continued pressure on family services, with 2,525 family households and 7,382 single-adult households recorded nationally in November.
Tipperary and Munster. A county breakdown in the Department’s report shows 97 adults were accessing emergency accommodation in Tipperary during the November count week (24–30 November).
Across Munster counties, the same table records the following adult figures for the week:
Cork: 736; Kerry: 63; Limerick: 576; Clare: 98; Tipperary: 97, and Waterford: 112. Same above totals 1,682 adults across Munster counties during the count week.
Cold weather warnings. The latest increase comes ahead of a sharp cold snap, with Status Yellow warnings in place for snow/ice and low temperatures/ice, and Met Éireann warning of hazardous travel conditions and poor visibility in affected areas this weekend.
Calls for action: Focus Ireland have stated that the figures underline that the Government’s new housing plan must begin delivering in 2026, with urgent measures needed to speed up exits from homelessness and increase delivery of suitable homes.
Met Éireann have issued snow and ice warnings as temperatures set to fall to -4°C.
Snowfall last year in January on Kickham Street.
Temperatures are forecast to drop to around -4°C in parts of the country over the coming weekend, as Met Éireann issues a series of Status Yellow warnings for snow, ice and low temperatures. Forecasters have warned of hazardous travel conditions and poor visibility, with frost and icy stretches also expected.
The first warning comes into effect at 8:00pm tonight (Friday, January 2nd), with a Status Yellow snow and ice warning for Donegal in place until 11:00am on Saturday, January 3rd, as wintry showers bring the risk of snow accumulations. Further snow/ice warnings are due to extend across northern and western areas from Saturday evening into Sunday morning, while Tipperary and much of the rest of the country will be covered by low temperature and ice warnings over the same period.
Concerns have been voiced over road deaths recorded in Ireland and Tipperary during the period 2025.
Provisional figures published by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) and An Garda Síochána show a concerning increase in road fatalities during 2025. An Garda Síochána recorded 179 fatal collisions in 2025, resulting in 190 fatalities on Irish public roads and in public places, including car parks and other non-public roads.
An RSA report, covering public roads only, in line with historic trends, found 185 deaths in 174 fatal collisions on public roads during 2025. This compares with 171 deaths in 157 fatal collisions in 2024, an 8% increase year-on-year.
The RSA highlighted increases among drivers and vulnerable road users (pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists).
Cyclist deaths were the highest recorded since 2017, while motorcyclist fatalities were the highest since 2007.
Approximately three-quarters of those killed were male, with one-quarter female.
February and June recorded the fewest fatalities (11 each), while November (21) and December (24) recorded the highest.
The average number of deaths per month in 2025 was 15, compared with 14 per month in 2024.
County Tipperary: confirmed context figures: While the RSA end-of-year release does not set out a full county-by-county total in its news statement, published RSA research provides verified longer-term context for County Tipperary.
An RSA “County Briefing on Tipperary” reports that between 2018 and 2022 there were 47 fatalities in County Tipperary, representing 7% of total fatalities during that period. In a Garda Roads Policing review covering January to June 2025, a county table listed Tipperary with 2 fatalities at that point in the year (part of a national total of 82 to end-June).
An Garda Síochána Assistant Commissioner Ms Catharina Gunne described 2025 as “a devastating year” for families and communities impacted, and said Gardaí will continue targeted enforcement in 2026 focusing on the most dangerous behaviours.
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