If Irish people can buy vapes, they should also be able to purchase raw milk, a TD has argued. 

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland advises people against drinking unpasteurised milk, which it advises “may contain harmful bacteria that can cause illness”. 

Pregnant women, children, the elderly and those with chronic illnesses are particularly at risk. 

It means that the vast majority of milk in Ireland is pasteurised - although, there is still some demand for the traditional, untreated kind. 

“I had constituents who are travelling to Newry and out far out of Dublin to get raw milk, so I wanted to raise it on their behalf,” Barry Heneghan told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“My granny drank raw milk; she lived to 98, she used to have a shop on the Malahide Road. 

“Sure, she lived very well and swore by the raw milk.”

Raw milk from Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk, England. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

While the Dublin Bay North TD acknowledged there are risks to drinking raw milk, he said raw milk is less dangerous than many other items already legally for sale. 

“How can someone go in and buy a vape, a battery and inhale it, but they can't go in and decide to drink raw milk?” he argued. 

“I think the raw milk argument, it's really got people's attention; I've been getting emails from supporters and people against it.”

Deputy Heneghan continued that a free society allows adults to make their own choices. 

“I know in rural Ireland it's a lot easier, but I think if someone is an adult, they should maybe be able to make adult decisions on what they consume,” he said. 

“The reason I co-related it with the fact that someone can go in and buy cigarettes or a coalition of chemicals that they can inhale in apple flavour was that, I don't understand, as an adult, you cannot decide what you put into your own body.”

Main image: Independent TD Barry Heneghan. Picture by: Alamy.com.