Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
NEW CHECKS ON sunbed premises will see underage teenagers checking if they can purchase a session.
The Minister for Health Leo Varadkar issued the guidelines, which will allow the HSE’s Environmental Health Services to send a teenager aged between 15 and 17 into a sunbed premises and attempt to purchase a sunbed session.
The Test Purchase Guidelines will cover the sale, use or hire of sunbeds to anyone under 18.
Advertisement
Minister Varadkar said, “The HSE’s Environmental Health Services will have an extra tool in their overall enforcement programme to combat the sale, use or hire of sunbeds to minors.
I want to stress that the objective of the test purchase programme is to ascertain whether a sunbed business is complying with the law, not to trap that business into committing an offence. In this regard, the test purchaser must answer all questions about their age truthfully.
Similar test purchase programmes are currently in place for the sale of alcohol and tobacco.
Dr Maurice Mulcahy, Regional Chief Environmental Health Officer of the HSE said test purchases will commence in the near future.
“It is essential that individuals supervising the use of sunbeds verify the age of customers to ensure they are over the age limit of 18 years old. This can be done quite simply by checking such documents as age cards, passports or driving licences.
“The new test purchase guidelines will enable us to verify if these essential checks are taking place and thereby ensuring the protection of children from the health risks associated with ultra violet radiation from sunbeds.”
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
One Sunbed session increases your risk of a number of cancers from 20-67% depending on the type of cancer. You really need to have a serious screw loose/death wish to use them.
I use them just before going on a sun holiday to build up resistance to the sun. But only for two weeks (bout 6 times in total) and I find it helps me not get burned and so is probably beneficial in that respect. But I’d never use them regularly
Fair enough if are happy those benefits outweigh the greatly increased chance you now have of getting cancer, you are an adult after all. Of course getting burned is also a bad idea.
Factor 50 will stop you getting burned too Alan…you will also find you will still tan if thats what you are after…..I used sunbeds on and off over the years and i ended up with skin cancer which left me with a nice scar to remind me never to be so careless again! Factor 50 all the way now for me now and yearly checks for the rest of my life!
Sorry to hear about that Lorraine, thanks for the advice. I thought I was doing good by it, but will stick to cream now. Was genuinely unaware of the extent of the risks. Thanks
Interesting you were unaware, it was one area where studies are conclusive. Are there any warnings in the tanning salons? If not there should be. Maybe in the small print at the moment but there should be prominent signs given the are worse than cigarettes.
That’s it well done tell everybody what you up too lol , bit like a few years back when the Health Inspectors use to ring and say I’ll be out next Thursday to check your premises…. only in Ireland
It’s called mystery shopping and it is used by quite a lot of companies and agencies. Person walks in off the street and try’s to book a sunbed session. They then report back is they were asked for ID or their age. They don’t say when or where they will turn up, whether they are male or female or if they are with an adult. So Johnny it’s looks like they have thought of a better way than ringing them up and telling them that they are coming. Who’s LOL now?
Jane speaking from experience from someone who worked in the industry for nearly 20years , you were phoned when the Heath inspectors were coming. Glad things have changed recently ,would explain why so many have been hit with fines or closed .
Seamus the headline clearly says ‘children will be sent on ‘ not people ! So of course all tanning salons are going to asked for ID because they are expecting it now !!!
In my 25 year experience the only people who will phone a warning is the hotel or restaurant down the road when the inspector is in their place, in the hope you’d do them the same favor in future. The EHO’s are defiantly wide to that now. They know what they are doing and even though most if not all of them never worked in the industry, they keep us on our toes
Safe to say 100% of Environmental Health Officers worked in the industry. The finest professionals we have in Ireland, as you can see from the report above- the one thing we get really right in Ireland…. Industry do as they say, or else!
My friend is younger then me by 3 years & I am by far blowing my trumpet but I look half her age as she lives for sunbeds… at least twice a week she will hop on one for 20 mins & when u look at her up close u can see all the age spots and moles she has from being on sunbeds.. she totally ignore the warnings when I tell her. .Bad as the sun is sunbeds are actually way worse…
I’ve seen girl’s in school uniforms cue up to use sun beds and sun showers in a local salon. now they may have been 18 but it’s scary that they thing this is the way to look good :(
Our society is tan obsessed. Theres a whole host of people walking around that aren’t a normal colour for any caucasian. Don’t even get me started on the eyebrows..or hair extensions..or false lashes. Id say most guys are getting afraid to touch women these days in case bits start falling off.
I had no idea this was such a big problem. Who would’ve thought tanning would be more important to kids than smokes and booze?
Wouldn’t it be classed as entrapment though? Surely they can’t use actual minors to do this. I’m guessing it’s going to be older people who look young and give them fake I.D’s or something. If not that has to be breaking some kind of law.
Humbled! But those salons who were not complying with the law have virtually no chance of being caught now because they’ve been forewarned. But I guess you and I were looking at it differently
People need to educate themselves on sun beds. It has been proven small amounts is good for you. However I worked in tanning salon and whilst I tried to be vigilant on amounts people took and tried to advise them on healthy use,my ex bosses chastised me for it. They had been letting kids on before I started there. I knew some were underage but I wasn’t allowed to turn them away because they had been using them for years. Its like the taxi checks few months back. Why are they warning them? Stupid.
Gardaí appeal for information after four men injured during ‘public order incident’ in Co Clare
1 min ago
1
Palestine Action
Downing Street warns Sally Rooney she risks prosecution if she donates to Palestine Action
40 mins ago
2.2k
Just so you know
Thunderstorm warning issued for three counties tomorrow
23 hrs ago
83.1k
17
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 222 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage . Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework. The choices you make regarding the purposes and vendors listed in this notice are saved and stored locally on your device for a maximum duration of 1 year.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Social Media Cookies
These cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 155 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 202 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 162 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 125 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 126 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 54 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 51 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 181 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 80 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 114 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 120 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 53 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 67 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 38 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 126 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 129 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 98 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 70 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 122 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 109 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say