The president of the University of Limerick (UL) has called on the Minister for Education to ban the use of electronic cigarettes (vaping) on all university campuses nationwide as a matter of urgency.

Vaping and smoking were banned throughout the UL campus in 2018 - it is the only campus in the country to implement such a ban.

However according to UL president, Dr Des Fitzgerald, vaping is a major health risk, especially for students who may have been led to believe it is a healthier option than cigarette smoking.

"Vaping is a real health risk and is now being directly implicated in health crises and even death among users. We can see by the introduction of flavoured vaping products and other marketing initiatives that big business is now aggressively pushing this product onto young people in particular, and we should waste no time in mounting a robust challenge to these forces and that begins with a ban," he said.

Dr Fitzgerald believes that the Government should not wait for universities to decide if/when to take action on this issue and should instead "immediately institute a ban on vaping and smoking in any institution which is in receipt of Exchequer funds".

He noted that in recent weeks, the States of New York and Michigan in the US have introduced bans on flavoured vaping products. US Senator, Mitt Romney, has also published legislation to ban flavoured vaping products and to apply cigarette taxes to vaping devices.

Meanwhile, India has also announced a ban on the production, import and sale of electronic cigarettes on the basis that they pose a risk to health.