Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have tabled these amendments, relating to a ban on the on the use of sunbeds for people with skin types I and II, based on Fitzpatrick skin photo type classification. As I indicated on Committee Stage, I thank the Irish Cancer Society for framing these proposed amendments, and I hope the Minister of State has had the opportunity in the intervening period to give the good sense behind the amendments her due consideration and, I hope, her support. The amendments take the form of new sections as set out in the amendments, which are also tabled in the name of Deputy Kelleher.

I hope the Minister of State has carefully examined the proposals and that she will be in a position to advise of their acceptance. These amendments would prohibit those with the fairest skin types, types I and II, from using sunbeds in "designated sunbed business settings". The Bill can only directly refer to such settings, and one would hope that in any other setting, people would use their good sense and not use sunbeds at all. The majority of Irish people are of skin type I or II, and that is just a fact of who we are and where we live.

There are international comparisons. In Australia, people with skin type I are prohibited from using sunbeds and I expect that also applies in related settings. In proposing the inclusion of both these amendments, we want to ensure that the people most at risk are protected. The Bill as drafted addresses the issue of young people but we also want to ensure the greatest protection for people of the fairest skin types. Sadly, this requires small terms, including prohibition, if we are to achieve the necessary result.

I have no doubt that the Minister of State knows that cancer incidence is projected to double by 2040. That makes for disturbing reading, and the fastest-growing number of cancers are expected to be skin cancers. As the Irish Cancer Society has indicated, sunbed use is as carcinogenic as smoking and plutonium. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in Ireland and in 2010, some 9,450 people were diagnosed with skin cancer in Ireland. Of those, 896 people were diagnosed with melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. There were 158 deaths from skin cancer in 2011, and as the Irish Cancer Society has stated, there is a very clear link between this rise in skin cancer and sunbeds. The international agency for research on cancer in July 2009 placed sunbeds in the highest cancer risk category, indicating they are as carcinogenic as the use of tobacco and plutonium.

Every year, up to 28,000 young people in Ireland put their lives at risk by using sunbeds. Although I cannot extrapolate numbers for the broader use of sunbeds, if a majority of the population are of skin types I and II, more than 50% of adult use would be putting their lives at risk.

This is a huge issue which requires as stoic and determined an address as that shown by the Minister and Ministers of State regarding tobacco use. I commend amendments Nos. 1 and 2 in my name and that of Deputy Kelleher. I hope when the Minister responds she will indicate that she accepts them for the very good, sane and sensible reasons I have given.

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