By Paul McElwee
A NORTH west vape shop owner has said that an influx of vape users from across the border is ‘inevitable’ with the upcoming ban on flavoured vapes and an excise tax on non-banned vapes coming into effect in the new year.
Connor Kelly, of Vape Shack in Strabane, is expecting his cross-border trade to significantly increase with the new measures. From January, the Dáil is placing a ban on all flavoured vapes and a €0.50 per ml excise tax on existing non-flavoured products. This means that a standard 10ml bottle of vape liquid, which currently costs €3 to €5 in Ireland, will rise to €8 to €10 under the new tax, compared to just £3 (€3.60) in the North, an increase of up to 177 per cent.
“Of course sales from across the border will increase, why wouldn’t it? Vaping is highly addictive and if people in the border counties are desperate enough for a flavoured vape, they will travel the 10-15 miles across the border to get it. As we are just on the border it makes Strabane a handy place to find flavoured vapes if you want them bad enough. For generations. cross-border trade has been vital to the economy of border counties and we will encourage such trade to continue,” said Mr Kelly.
“I am already seeing a robust euro turnover, so people already do come from across the border to buy products, not just in my shop but in the other vape shops in town. It is difficult to definitively say whether all these Euro customers are actually from the South, it’s possible that they may just have euro on them and without looking at a car registration it’s hard to know, but it would be a fair assumption. The excise tax would put €5 on a 10ml vape so I understand why people would do it.”
A very real fear for the vape industry in the South is that the new rules would close a lot of retailers and Mr Kelly is in agreement, saying it would ‘kill the industry’ in an economic blow.
Asked about sthe potential for smuggling to occur, Mr Kelly said: “Yes, I can also see that happening although I don’t know how that can be stopped, outside of renewing customs posts on the border, which would reopen the whole Brexit debate once again. It is up to Dublin to introduce safeguards to ensure that doesn’t happen and I don’t believe the onus should be on vape businesses in the North to ‘police’ who we sell our products to; flavoured vapes are legal here for now and there is nothing in the law which prohibits us from selling to southern customers.
“I don’t know what the Dublin government will do about that but, as far as I am concerned, I will act within the law and sell a vape product to anyone over the age of eighteen who wants it regardless of where they’re from.”
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