Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support my colleague, Senator Martin Conway, in his call for a public consultation on mental health. There is hardly a family in the country that has not been impacted in some way by this issue and which has had need of one or other service. It is time we reviewed A Vision for Change to see whether it needs to be tweaked and made fit for purpose in today's setting. We have all had difficulties in our own constituencies regarding the closure of residential beds and how the service is configured.

An open and frank debate in this House with people working at the coalface would do the State some service and I would welcome it.

I welcome that the Public Health (Sunbeds) Act has been signed into law and will take effect from next month. I take the opportunity to appeal to all people, especially young people, to take serious account of the dangers to their health from overexposure to sunlight or tanning radiation. As we all know, skin cancer is the fastest-growing cancer in Ireland with 10,000 new cases reported annually. Irish people are risking their lives by disregarding the risks involved. It is often a case of peer pressure and it ultimately contributes to serious injury or even death. From next month there will be an onus on operators of sunbeds to ensure those under 18 years of age are not provided with a sun-tanning service. This new regulation will be enforced by HSE environmental health officers. We need to make people aware of the serious dangers to their health involved in using sunbeds. Young people in particular should be aware of the serious consequences. We need to make the owners of sunbed premises aware that this legislation will come into place next month.