Geraldine Feeney (Fianna Fail)

It is important for little boys and girls their ages never to start smoking. I am delighted the group has sat down again to hear what we have to say about this.

This morning when I accessed one anti-smoking website, I noted a packet of 20 cigarettes costs €8.40 and I thought who can afford to buy a pack every day. A 20-a-day smoker who stops will save €58.80 a week, €250 a month, the equivalent of a monthly food budget, and over €3,000 a year, allowing one to take off to sunnier climes. Having €3,000 in one's pocket to book a nice holiday on such a nice but cold morning should be more than an incentive to give up smoking.

This does not include the wonderful health benefits from stopping smoking. It will help in making breathing easier, reducing high blood pressure, the risk of sudden death from a heart attack or stroke and enhancing taste and smell. One would also begin to enjoy a better quality of life due to more energy and being able to participate fully in physical exercise.

Senator Fitzgerald gave out about the time taken to roll out the BreastCheck screening programme. The former Senator, Kathleen O'Meara, who is in the Visitors' Gallery, will remember how we roared and screamed in the Chamber about BreastCheck in the last Seanad. I always said that Rome was not built in a day and that BreastCheck would not be rolled out in a day. Is it not great it is now in place? We should commend and applaud this. Several hundred women have benefited from it with earlier detection of breast cancer.

This morning I was delighted when a member of the Irish Cancer Society told me it commended the Government on bringing through no-smoking legislation. While it is great not to have smoking in the workplace, pubs and restaurants, we cannot sit back. Money needs to be put into more awareness campaigns. Driving between Dublin and Sligo, the motorist will notice the large Paul Allen advertising billboards which could be used to display the quitting smoking helplines, those numbers that are like little mantras. A driver trying to give up smoking would be encouraged to dial one of those numbers, all the easier with hands-free sets in cars now. We have to strike while the iron is hot. I commend the Minister of State, the Department of Health and Children and the Government on no-smoking legislation but they must keep going on it.

Screening for breast and cervical cancers is in place while bowel cancer screening is imminent. On this morning's Order of Business there were calls for more prostate cancer screening. There are no two medical minds of the same view as to the road we should travel regarding such a screening programme. The way to go is to continue with research.

Sunbeds are the largest disaster that ever came into any country. Some 30 years ago, as a young married woman, I opened a small business in my home which had a sunbed. I used it without any regulation and the only item I needed was a loan from the bank for it. When I think about it now, I shudder in my little boots as to what I was exposing myself and others. There should be an all-out ban on children under 16 years using sunbeds. Once we introduce such a measure we should then consider a total ban. There is no regulation at present. The effects these machines may have on a person are equally if not more negative than the effects of smoking between 20 and 40 cigarettes per day. I cringe and I am sickened to the core when I think of mothers dressing their little girls for Holy Communion or Confirmation and who introduce them to sunbeds. I suggest those mothers should go and buy fake tan instead. I have two young daughters and their sheets are destroyed because of fake tan but at least I can wash them and I do not have to go to the accident and emergency ward.

I am pleased to note the progress in early detection in respect of lung cancer. There are rapid access venues and clinics opening now. I am pleased to note the developments in respect of specialist units and I understand the transition is going well and that there are no major problems. The more we can debate the matter in this way, the better for the whole area of cancer treatment.