James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the sentiments expressed by the Deputies across. I would have very strong views on this issue. I am a great believer in prevention being better than cure. Healthy Ireland, the cross-Government initiative to improve the nation's health is very important and is the first of its type. That picture of the Cabinet holding it up was alluded to at a WHO conference in Europe last week. We are involved in many important public health initiatives around tobacco, as Deputy Billy Kelleher has alluded to, and around exercise, the challenges that obesity and overweight present, the challenges in this area and around alcohol abuse.

We are continually accused of being a nanny state. We have made it clear we are not a nanny state, that we believe in the constitutional rights of Irish citizens. I have the highest respect and regard for the Irish Cancer Society and consider an ally in the fight against both cancer and other public health threats, but I do not believe we have the right under the Constitution to interfere with adults if they decide to engage in risky behaviours. Therefore, I cannot ban adults from smoking cigarettes even though we know that one in two habitually develop cancer, which is a tobacco related illness. Nobody is suggesting that we do that and nobody is suggesting that we ban alcohol. I do not know how one would go about preventing people drinking excessively. We can take a range measures such as minimum pricing of advertising and reducing the exposure of young people to alcohol but we will not ban alcohol.

The whole issue around skin type is not as easy as it sounds. Many doctors will have difficulty in deciding whether a person has type 2 or type 3 skin while they might find it easy to decide on type 1. In any event, one is saying to me, as an Irish citizen with type 1 skin, that I do not have the same rights as persons with type 2, 3, 4 or 5. I do not think that will wash with the Irish people. We have to do what is sensible and reasonable and what people can adhere to without ending up needlessly being challenged in the courts. We would then have to go back to the European Union which would involve more delay. This Bill is a long time coming. My predecessor, Mary Harney, tried to get this Bill through. It has taken that length of time to get it to this Stage and I do not want it delayed any further.

I agree with Deputy Billy Kelleher about highlighting the dangers to people with skin types 1 and 2 and advertising and the education programmes that need to be undertaken. Banning adults and discriminating against particular skin types is not an area I want to get into nor is it an area with which I want to be associated. We all have equal rights to do the right thing and to make our mistakes as well. We do our best to advise people not to make the mistakes. We have a particular duty of care to children, for whom we cannot allow other to make mistakes. When it comes to themselves I do not think we have the right to do that and I would not be supportive of this approach. I say that as a doctor. My job, as a doctor, as far as I was concerned was to advise people but the ultimate decision about their health is made by themselves. They do so with the fullest information I could make available to them. It is not, "do as you are told". Life is not like that, and we all acknowledge that in our own way.

I have no problems with the amendments being tabled, that is Deputy Ó Caoláin's right. We should talk to them again because, as Deputy Billy Kelleher has said, that would highlight the danger particularly to people in this area. We will ensure that this health warning is displayed in all places where sunbeds are used, that a form is signed by customers using the sunbeds stating that they understand the risks to them, including the cancer risk, and that it has been explained properly to them to their satisfaction. That form will have to be held by the operator for at least two years after treatment has ceased. We are being very careful to warm people at every level about the dangers but, at the end of the day, an adult has the right to make the decision for himself or herself. I believe we have to respect that. We are not accepting this amendment