The Government should introduce a ban on commercial sunbeds, a working group has recommended, describing the public health rationale for such a move as “compelling”.
Last October, Minister of State for Public Health Jennifer Murnane O’Connor established a cross-departmental working group to examine the legal, policy and public-health implications of such a ban.
The work was commissioned following concerns around rates of skin cancer, as well as the accessibility of them by young people.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in Ireland, with more than 11,000 cases of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer diagnosed annually.
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The group, which included staff from the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health, provided three options to the Government in relation to this issue: maintaining the current situation, introducing further restrictions or an outright ban on commercial sunbeds.
According to the report, published on Wednesday, the group recommended advancing a commercial ban for a number of public health reasons.
“Ultraviolet radiation from sunbeds causes skin cancer and there is no safe level of exposure. Sunbeds are classified as a group-one carcinogen by the WHO [World Health Organisation],” the report said.
“Children and young people under 35 years, who represent over 45 per cent of current users, are most vulnerable to skin damage from sunbeds.”
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The working group also pointed to the skin type of the Irish population, which they said is “particularly vulnerable to burns and are at greatest risk of skin cancer from UV radiation”.
“A ban on commercial sunbed use would send a strong public-health message that sunbeds are dangerous,” it added.
The Government previously took action to restrict the use of the machines by children and young people.
However the report notes: “While the public-health sunbeds legislation has improved overall regulation and awareness, it has not succeeded in reaching the policy objective of eliminating sunbed usage by those under 18 years of age.”
The number of sunbed businesses notified to the HSE has reduced year on year since the introduction of the Act, dropping from 609 in 2015 to 364 in 2025.
“It is noted that a reduction in the number of sunbed businesses does not necessarily correspond to a reduction in the number of sunbed units. Beauty salons and tanning salons remain the most common locations for sunbeds in Ireland,” it added.
There were 402 inspections of sunbed businesses last year, of which there were 114 non-compliant inspections across 91 businesses.
“Non-compliances were across the nine different infringement types: age restriction, eyewear, health claims, health information, hygiene, marketing practices, notification, records and warning signs,” the report said.
“From a health perspective, a ban on commercial sunbed use represents the most effective and evidence based policy option to protect the Irish population, particularly children and young people, from the harmful effects of sunbed use,” it concluded.
“The implementation of a potential ban on commercial sunbed use will require careful planning, clear communication, stakeholder engagement and robust legislation.”
Murnane O’Connor said she had “granted approval for this work to progress to the next phase of policy development” in relation to the proposed ban.
