Summer is here and while the weather might not seem that way, you never know when the sun is coming back.
Ireland is rolling out free sunscreen dispensers across major public parks and bathing areas this summer, leading skin and laser expert Eavanna Breen is welcoming the initiative while issuing a stark warning: sunscreen alone is not enough to protect the Irish public
With over 11,000 cases of skin cancer diagnosed annually, Ireland currently holds the highest incidence rate in Europe.
Here we chat to Eavanna about protecting our skin…
What is the Australian standard for skincare?
The Australian model is probably the most well-known public health approach to sun safety. Australia treated UV exposure as a serious, everyday cancer-prevention issue, not something reserved for beach holidays or heatwaves. Their “Slip, Slop, Slap” campaign launched in 1981, asking people to slip on protective clothing, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat. It was later extended to “Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide,” adding seek shade and slide on wraparound sunglasses.
What they did well was make sun protection feel ordinary. It became part of school life, sport, childcare, workplaces, and public messaging. People learned to check the UV index rather than the temperature, because UV can be high even when it doesn’t feel hot. Australia also went further on sunbeds: by 2016, commercial sunbeds were banned across all Australian states and territories, a policy that had strong public support and is estimated to have prevented thousands of skin cancers.
For Ireland, the lesson is that information alone doesn’t change behaviour. Sun protection needs to feel like a habit you form early and carry through life, not something you think about on the rare days it’s actually warm.
How can we be more sun safe here in Ireland?
The most important thing is to stop treating sun safety as a holiday concern. In Ireland, UV radiation can damage skin even on cloudy days. UV is not the same as heat or visible sunshine. The HSE advises protecting your skin whenever the UV index reaches 3 or above, which happens here from roughly April through September, with or without cloud cover.
The HSE’s SunSmart 5S rule is a good framework for daily life: slip on clothes that cover as much skin as possible, slop on broad-spectrum sunscreen, slap on a wide-brimmed hat, seek shade, and slide on UV-protective sunglasses. That approach should be normal in schools, sports clubs, outdoor workplaces, festivals, beaches, farms, and playgrounds.
On sunbeds, under-18s are already banned from using them in Ireland under the Public Health (Sunbeds) Act 2014, and operators are legally required to follow restrictions. But the health message needs to be unambiguous: there is no safe level of sunbed use. They expose your skin to UV radiation, they raise your skin cancer risk, and they are not a substitute for anything.
Do you find that Irish people don’t take the Irish sun seriously?
Yes, and I understand why. We associate UV danger with hot weather, blue skies, and holidays abroad. Irish weather often feels cool, overcast, or breezy, so people assume their skin is fine. It isn’t, necessarily.
There’s also something cultural at play. When we get a sunny day, people want to make the most of it because sunshine here can feel rare. That often means hours outside with no protection. And a tan is still read by many people as a sign of health, when actually it’s your skin’s response to damage.
Irish people aren’t careless; they just haven’t been taught to think about UV the way Australians have. We’ve grown up asking “Is it hot enough to burn?” when the better question is “What’s the UV index today?”
What are three tips you would give to people for being sun safe?
First: check the UV index, not just the forecast. If it’s 3 or above, protect your skin. In Ireland, that’s a real possibility from April to September, even on grey days.
Second: make the 5S rule your default: covering clothes, broad-spectrum SPF, a wide-brimmed hat, shade where possible, and UV-protective sunglasses. Not for holidays, for the school run, the garden, the match on a Saturday morning.
Third: leave sunbeds alone entirely. There is no safe base tan. There is no beauty justification. They damage your skin and raise your cancer risk, full stop.
Protect your skin before damage happens. Make it something you do without thinking about it. And don’t touch sunbeds.