Phil Prendergast (Labour)

The boys, yes. We very much welcome that the restaurant here is now preparing the menus decided by the "Operation Transformation" team and Dr. Eva Orsmond. This is something Mr. Don Rice and his team have taken on board and that option will continue in the restaurant.

Yesterday we had the honour of having four of the five leaders who are undergoing the programme on television at present here as our guests. They were delighted that this option was available here and they also stated that there were restaurants around Dublin which were also interested in having the reduced fat and lower calorie options available to people. There is an interest in having programmes such as this to raise awareness.

Another aspect of my work involves visiting schools with the sexual health programme. I speak about cervical screening and about the HPV vaccine, which is coming on stream for young women later this year and which I very much welcome.

To get the attention of young people, and the Irish Cancer Society might take this on board, we must put up one-liners on social networking sites such as Google Buzz, Bebo and Facebook with links to facts they may need to know. We certainly must be innovative in how we get young people to engage with health awareness and cancer prevention. Testicular cancer, in particular, mainly affects young men between the ages of 15 and 35 years. Young people must take proper care, be able to check themselves out and get comfortable with that process. There should be links on such pages where young people might get even one piece of information. In my experience it is often the one-liner or throwaway remark that will make a difference in people's lives.

Many people are not aware of the dangers of doing something or of signs and symptoms because what is normal for a person who is going through puberty? No two people are the same. Another aspect of my life is running junior discotheques. It is very difficult when one meets a young girl of 12 years of age who is wearing make-up and high heels and dressed for a social outing to tell the difference between her and a 17 year old. During puberty, when the body is undergoing massive changes, normal can be a movable feast for many young people. They do not know what is normal. Rather than have people concerned about body changes, they should know what is normal for them, and the only way to achieve that is to give them information in a way they can understand and recognise. We need to move forward in planning how to get that information to young people and perhaps get greater take-up of it and more prevention as a result.

Today is national no smoking day. Cigarettes now have far more addictive properties than they had previously. It is one of the means of trapping people into smoking. It is no longer simply a matter of somebody being able to have a cigarette when they are out socialising and not smoking otherwise. The addictive properties make people continue to smoke. I also support the call for legislation to monitor the use of sunbeds. The idea that people are exposing young children to sunbeds must be examined.

I thank the Minister for her attendance and appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this important subject. I hope there will be positive moves on it. I also thank the Irish Cancer Society and the other speakers for their contributions to the debate.