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FOR THE FIRST time, the number of melanoma skin cancer diagnoses in Ireland breached the 1,000 mark.
The latest figures available from the National Cancer Registry show that in 2014 there were 10,304 cases of non-melanoma skin cancer, and 1,041 cases of melanoma.
The Irish Skin Foundation will be launching the Protect & Inspect campaign which will “target the sun-loving public but with a particular focus on those who intend to spend time holidaying in the sun”.
“The main aim of the campaign is to help clarify and simplify how people can protect and inspect their skin,” the charity, which supports people with skin diseases said.
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in Ireland, and we’re the 14th most susceptible nation in the world for skin cancer, with 16% of those diagnosed dying.
Of the different types of skin cancer, melanoma is not the most common – but it raises the greatest concern as it can spread to other parts of the body, where it becomes difficult to treat and can be fatal.
“Sun damage is cumulative,” according to Dr Rupert Barry, Consultant Dermatologist at St James’ Hospital.
In a world where a tan is still often seen as a sign of good health, the truth is that a tan is a sign of damaged skin.
“It indicates that your skin has been working to defend itself against overexposure to UV radiation.”
Do you know your skin type?
A person’s natural skin colour influences their risk of skin cancer. Most people living in Ireland have fair skin (skin type 1 or 2) which burns easily and tans poorly.
However, research shows that those with fairer skin often judge themselves to be darker than they actually are and as a consequence, underestimate their vulnerability to the harmful effects of overexposure to UV from the sun.
Findings from a recent Irish study carried out in the Dermatology Department of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda, found that the majority (66%) of patients questioned, underestimated their skin’s sensitivity to sunlight.
You can learn more about your skin type here.
This week, the Irish Skin Foundation will launch its Protect & Inspect campaign which includes a microsite on caring for your skin. Articles, infographics and other information on how to protect your skin will also be published during the week.
You can find more here.
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Creating these kinds of situations where higher education is becoming more out of reach for those in the squeezed middle and at even lower socio economic levels is no accident. What we are seeing is a purposeful perpetuation of the haves and the have nots in order to consolidate power and money for the select few. The rest can just go to hell and give up their hopes of doing better in life than a basic wage job where more and more are fighting for fewer and fewer jobs; where the pay will be a race to the bottom, and working conditions will become worse so that those at the top can continue to line their ever expanding pockets off the misery of the majority.
@Patty Cullinane: Absolutely, social engineering at its most subtle. Unfortunately a lot of the affected have lost, or have had their capacity for critical thinking and analysis numbed, by the constant inane noise that is ‘social media’; this facilitated by the ‘smart’ phone – and its immense capabilities to distract from reality.
@Patty Cullinane: welcome to east america
@Patty Cullinane: Why can’t those people living in city Centre accommodation for 27 a week avail of education.
The carefree attitude allowing these huge percentage increases in prevalent throughout the rental sector. It is obviously a situation out of hand and despite Varadkar proclaiming it an emergency absolutely nothing is being done. Inaction bordering on criminal negligence.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W:
There is only one thing a politician is afraid of, being voted out of the Dail. FG and by extension FF because of their support for the government, have made a complete mess of the rental sector but they are going up in the polls.
Nothing is going to change.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W: The classic Irish attitude of “If I can charge more I will” is the main cause of the problem for higher rental costs.
@Andy K: I think the 52% tax has more to do with high rents than anything else along with very poor protection for landlords when it comes to not paying rent.
@Kal Ipers: Company’s wouldn’t pay 52% Kal.
Would love to know who is financing this project. One of our beloved state banks?
@prop joe: Perhaps not ‘our beloved state banks’ (the latter day government), by a little fluffy REIT from Canada – insofar as Canada remains a country rather than an estate.
It is sickening to think that students and there parents have to pay through there nose to try educate themselves and get a good start in life and the Gov. sits by, yet if all these students never went to college/applied themselves and just turned up at the social office they’d get dole a medical card , rent allowance and eventually a council house.. than the same gov would hand them back to education allowances etc. High time a higher percentage of the gov budget is directed towards people who want to better themselves and not just those with the hand out doing nothing.
Where does the money go if these are purpose built accommodation for students.What a government looking after the future of this country what with fees, incurance, and accommodation price hikes.
Surely this is well over the rent cap they brought in, which has basically not been enforced at all.
@Andy K: New tenants every year means they can hike it how they like. The 4% cap is for sitting tenants every two years.
@gowfc@yahoo.com W:
Yes the 4% doesn’t apply but it’s because it is temporary accommodation, ie not their permanent home.
The 4% is for people that live in their accommodation seven days 52 weeks and is 4% every year, not every two years.
For a country that sells itself as having a well educated local workforce, we aren’t helping ourselves by pricing students out of further education. We are going down the American route where third lvl education is now a business and not a benefit to the country.
A clear example of a publicly needed service being privatised.
Will not be a big issue with Leo and the hipsters, the media battery chickens of PK and Rourkey spout all day long The Private Sector will drive down costs,the wealth creators, creating ruthless efficiencies, give it to the private sector and they’ll show you how its done. I want kids in college who’s going prescribe my meds and mind us when we’re old, fix my car, cook etc. Lost 6K myself to a dingy digs provider for daughter with all the compassion of a knife.
Not to be confused with the private sector workers who are being equally as screwed by this setup. Compassion is the natural enemy to profit.
We need to do more for the small landlords. Somebody who has been left a house, who decides to rent it out will pay over 50% of the rent on taxes, regardless of other incomes, coupled with the fact that laws favour bad Tennant’s, a landlord could be 2 years without rent by the time the eviction of non payers is complete. Students who have mammy and daddy paying rent will not look after a house and may just party causing damage so hence higher risk with students so higher rents.
With all mentioned above you can’t blame people using short term rents.
@Philip Morgan: so many people want to buy and are stuck renting because landlords are hogging all the property. I don’t feel aorry for them at all. They can get jobs and work for their money like everyone else and not expect other people to pay for their assets for them through rent.
@Smelly Chemist: So you think all landlords should sell up??
In the past student accommodation had to be priced more keenly because many students rented houses from private landlords. Through a series of disastrous policy decisions the Government has made many small time landlords leave the sector with consequent impact on rental supply. The aim being to professionalize the sector -well this is what professional sectors do – they hike up rents to the maximum they can get away with because they answer only to their shareholders.
@Sean: DCU onsite accomadation was always higher than renting privately. It was never keenly priced. It was cheaper for a friend’s parents to buy a house and pay the mortgage than put 2 of them in student accomadation
Keep in Mind that the professional tenements that FG wants are also not going to be regarded as permanent accommodation. By setting 1k as average student rent for a single room a month they can charge the professionals more.
The only rooms more expensive than 1k a month are the hotel rooms that help with kickbacks to private enterprise for exploiting homelessness for profit.
Think of any other sector where a 27% hike is even conceivable- you cant; and that explains why FG will never, never, do anything about individuals like these students, and countless families of course, being in crisis. It’s just too damn profitable for their buddies. I’d like to think the lesson these youngsters are getting in the realities of rentier capitalism will inspire them to change our rotten little state in years to come but the fact that they come from relative comfort or they wouldn’t be at UCD implies they’ll go the traditional Irish route from exploited to exploiter; in a decade some will be landlords (on interest-only buy-to-let mortgages) and more will be employed by the banks and REITs who are the Blueshirsts’ masters. This is the worst of it; because people are ripped off themselves they feel entitled, impelled, to rip others off later and vote for the hard right parties- there’s nothing ‘center’ about FG or FF- that keep the exploitative merry-go-round going. It’s up to the permanently uncomfortable, the class who can’t dream of supporting kids at college, who can’t think of even having kids until they’ve sacrificed their best years on the alter of bankster, developer and landlord greed, to smash the circle of abuse. Vote socialist!
@Michael Bride: Expense increases on landlords would have gone up that amount and more. As taxes are 52% for every extra €1 expense requires €2 increase to get the same money as before. So the government added more expenses to landlords and took away the tax relief on interest. (did come back but for a lesser amount) LPT, PRTB charges added too while the government then cut rent allowance and forced many landlords to accept it breaking leases.
The public loved this and ignored the warnings that the costs would get passed on. Many landlords operated at a loss because of this and now are recouping these losses. The government then introduced the RPZs restricting landlords to increases a lot less than the government imposed on landlords.
@Kal Ipers: So the poor landlord is the real victim here? You could sing that if you had a tune Kal- I’m not buying it!
@Michael Bride: No everyone loses and for all the complaints about landlords the reality is they are just passing on costs.
Absolutely disgraceful conduct
Foreign investors pension funds
@Jono: No Irish people have money in this too. The vast majority of rental property is Irish owned.
@Jono: If you have a pension, you’re probably a landlord.
I remember in the early 2000′s that students were paying €100/130 a week to share a pokey bedroom in Dublin. Tiny living area etc. all shared by 4-8 people.
Adjusted for inflation, those DCU prices don’t seem too bad.
@Ronan McKeon: It’s about €250 a week now, so two and a half times as much. I don’t remember a pint costing €2 in the early 2000s. But yes, it was always bad.
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