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

I thank the Senators for their support for the Bill and for the many contributions they made. I will address the issues in the order in which they were raised.

By way of general comment I wish to reiterate that skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in Ireland. It represents a major public health challenge in both the short and long term. We cannot ignore the frightening figures and projections provided by the National Cancer Registry. I can repeat the figures for anyone who thinks this proposed legislation is frivolous or indicative of a nanny state approach, although I acknowledge that nobody in the Chamber thinks so. More than 850 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in Ireland each year, and more than 150 Irish people die each year from melanoma. More than 7,000 people were living with this type of cancer in Ireland as per the last statistics in 2011.

As others have pointed out, the sad reality is that we know the disease is totally avoidable. As I have already said, this is a true case of prevention being better than a cure that is often very painful. We must legislate now to put measures in place to protect our children and allow adults to make better-informed choices. We must do all we can to discourage the use of sunbeds and encourage a healthier attitude to protecting ourselves and our children from ultraviolet radiation. I am convinced that the Bill will contribute to a reduction in the incidence of skin cancers in the long term. It is a comprehensive response to a serious public health issue. The Government's key objective in the Bill is to protect young people. Therefore, we propose to make it an offence to sell or hire a sunbed to a person under the age of 18 or allow such a person to use a sunbed on a sunbed premises.

Through the Bill, and the wider Healthy Ireland agenda, we will create awareness of the dangers of using sunbeds. We will promote healthy lifestyle choices among the public by building on this legislation and by supporting and monitoring collaboration in areas such as primary care, hospitals, cancer screening and clinical programmes.

I have no intention of passing the Bill only for it to be left on the shelf. Environmental health officers have a proven track record in the enforcement of a broad range of environmental health legislation. They play a lead role in the enforcement of food safety and tobacco control legislation. The impact of their efforts can be seen in the consistently high compliance rates - above 90% - with non-smoking legislation.

I shall now address some of the questions raised. Senator MacSharry mentioned at the outset, as did several others, that he supported the Irish Cancer Society's amendment providing for a total ban on the use of sunbeds by people with skin types I and II. I wish to put on the record of the House that I am the number one supporter of the Irish Cancer Society and the great work it does in raising awareness and funds to help with treatment and research, as well as the colorectal cancer screening project that was rolled out at the beginning of this week. None the less, this legislation is very much a political decision. As a Minister for Health who was a practising doctor in the past, I do not believe I can impose my will on other people. I believe that one should give people the information and let them make an informed decision. We are not a nanny state. We allow people freedom of expression and the right to make their own decisions. On the one hand people think we are too liberal, and on the other they think we are not liberal enough. We have a duty of care to children, which we take very seriously; hence the banning of the use of sunbeds by children under 18 years. I do not propose, on a policy principle basis, to accept the proposed amendment. In any case, there is a real difficulty regarding the enforcement of such a measure because doctors differ over the skin type categorisation of individuals. I can see real issues with such a measure.

Senator MacSharry raised the issue of why rates are increasing. There are a number of reasons, one of which is that people are living longer and, the longer one lives, the more likely one is to develop cancer. That is based on scientific fact. The longer one lives, the more the cells mutate and, with more mutations, the greater the chance of a mutation and ending up with cancer. Second, there is a long lead-in time from taking preventive action to seeing the results.

We are joined by a host of young ladies from some school in the Visitors Gallery. There are very welcome. We are discussing a Bill that has a direct impact on them. We are banning the use of sunbeds for people under 18 years of age because people who use sunbeds increase their risk of getting skin cancer. Some 150 people die in this country every year from skin cancer. Every Senator who has spoken is in favour of the Bill.

Prevention works and I have been very critical of my fellow politicians because for too long we have paid lip service to prevention but we do not pay for it. We must pay for it although it is not politically attractive because we will not see the results before the next general election. It will not win us any votes but in 20, 30 or 40 years' time, it will have saved thousands of lives and billions of euro in health care costs.

Senator Colm Burke spoke about scanning services. HIQA licensing legislation is being worked on in the Department to afford it the right to license premises. That includes the likes of services to which the Senator alludes and this ensures certain standards will be met. At the moment, no standard is applied and we are unsure about the training of individuals purporting to offer these services. I would be very wary of them.

The Senator also mentioned remote sales. Awareness raising was also mentioned. We must raise awareness of melanoma and skin cancer generally. We launched a melanoma awareness month on 1 May this year, as we did last year and the year before. It is organised with the support of a number of organisations and on that occasion I called on individuals to regularly protect themselves and their children. During melanoma awareness month, the Marie Keating Foundation held a skin cancer awareness seminar to launch the annual skin cancer awareness campaign. This was attended by my officials. Throughout the summer months, the foundation's nurses will be delivering a free skin cancer education roadshow to communities all over Ireland through the mobile information units. My Department recently met with the HSE, the Irish Cancer Society, the national cancer control programme and the Environmental Health Association of Ireland to agree a cohesive approach to awareness raising. The Department and I will continue to ensure there is a focus on awareness, particularly in respect of young people, of the dangers of sunbed and sun exposure.

Senator van Turnhout talked about banning sunbeds altogether and I have addressed that point. Senator John Gilroy wondered about the Bill allowing medical treatment but the Bill allows for medical treatment at a medical establishment. If there were travel issues for people with chronic conditions, arrangements can be made with a local facility. I am not aware of the risk to the supervisor. The Senator also referred to legislating for hygiene and asked why it was necessary. We can never have enough legislation in that regard, irrespective of where it appears in the legislative process. It is no harm to reassert that point. Currently, we do not have licensing but we are working towards licensing. The register is the first part of that.

Qualification and training is very important and the WHO is very clear that unqualified people create a greater danger to people using sunbeds. That is the result of research. The Senator raised the position of peace commissioners and the role in signing warrants in the absence of a judge. That is something we can look into and we can come back to it on Committee Stage. With regard to the recalcitrant offender, being in jail for 12 months means people will be unable to operate the salon, although this has not stopped some of our drug dealers.

Senator Cullinane talked about a total ban, as with tobacco, but tobacco is very different. Environmental tobacco smoke is involved and sidestream smoke affects people in the room whereas this is a different issue as it affects only the individual concerned. People have the right to make the decision once they are over 18 years of age. If they are old enough to decide to go and fight for this country and die for this country they have the right to make other decisions. I have already covered the point raised about a nationwide sun awareness campaign.

Senator Quinn talked about automated sunbeds and flexibility for doctors. We considered the use of the authorisation by doctors of the use of sunbeds for those under 18 years of age but, due to the risks, we decided that medical phototherapy should only be carried out under the supervision of a specialist in a health care setting. We could look at making provision for extraordinary circumstances but people need to be under the care of a specialist. We need that distance because family doctors can come under all sorts of pressure, stress and strain with no disrespect to them. They do fantastic work and are part of our health service working day in and day out and very few people have complaints about them.

The training and online aspects are covered. Section 12 provides that, once the machine is brought into the country from the point of sale, it is considered to come under the Bill. It does not matter whether it was purchased online. I thank Members for their contribution and I believe we have done some good work on prevention in the Seanad and in the other House. Prevention is always better than cure and it will not give us that warm political glow that we might like to feel but, more importantly, we will be able to look back in 20, 30 or 40 years if we are lucky enough to be alive and we will not have our granddaughter or grandson asking why we did not do something about this when we could have, in which case their friend would not be dying. I commend the Bill to the House.