Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also extend a céad míle fáilte to the Italian ambassador and join with everybody in welcoming him. We have a great affiliation and friendship with Italy. I hope he enjoys his day and his time in the House.

I support Senator Ward's comments on safety. We have seen some tragedies in recent days whereby young people have lost their lives. As regards swimming, machinery and all that type of thing, we all want to see everybody being safe, especially this weekend. We do not want to see loss of life. Senator Ward's comments are very timely and something we all support.

I will mention a briefing we had from the Irish Cancer Society, ICS, in recent days. It does wonderful work in speaking to Oireachtas people and pointing out to us issues that need to be discussed. One matter it brought up, and I am sure many colleagues are well aware of this, is the high VAT rate on sunscreen products. We all know we have to be careful about the sun, particularly in this fine weather. As can be seen, I take the sun in a couple of hours. Sometimes, I come back after a weekend and people say that I must have been abroad when I was not. It is just that I love the outdoors and get a colour very quickly. We have to be careful in the sun. One of the issues the ICS feels very strongly about is the high VAT rate on sunscreen products. We are all advised to use those products for safety reasons. I hope for a debate in the House, with the Minister for Health, or one of the Ministers of State in that Department, where we could have a full discussion on the matter and make our views known that we would like the Government, if it can at all, to reduce the VAT rate for sunscreen products.

In that regard, I wish everybody a very happy bank holiday weekend. I am looking at our guests in the Public Gallery, who are very welcome as we always like to see people in the Chamber, and who I am sure are enjoying the fine weather as well. It is most important that apart from being safe on the roads and when we are swimming or whatever, we also need to watch the sun.