Ireland is facing a skin cancer epidemic, the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) has warned.

According to the charity, urgent steps needs to be taken to bring skin cancer rates down. In 2015, there were 11,785 cases of the disease in Ireland. Some 1,118 of these cases were melanoma, which is the deadliest form of skin cancer.

However by 2040, the annual skin cancer figure is expected to hit 18,989. This is based on projections by the National Cancer Registry of Ireland.

"Ireland is facing a skin cancer epidemic in the next few decades, with skin cancer cases to rise by almost two-thirds by 2040, to nearly 19,000 cases a year.

"Urgent steps need to be taken now to prevent skin cancer in Ireland into the future - including raising awareness of the dangers of sun exposure, and steps to further regulate the use of sunbeds, including a potential ban," commented ICS head of services and advocacy, Donal Buggy.

He said that ‘a comprehensive action plan with ambitious timelines' is now needed, and he pointed out that the National Cancer Strategy calls for the development of a national skin cancer prevention plan.

"This was marked as a ‘priority' in the strategy and we are calling for its publication by the end of the year. While we are pleased to note that work in the Department of Health is underway on this, there can be no room for delay in its publication," he insisted.

The ICS made its comments ahead of a seminar it is hosting, which features Craig Sinclair, an expert on skin cancer from Australia. Mr Sinclair is director of the World Health Organization's Collaborative Centre for UV Radiation and head of cancer prevention at Cancer Council Victoria.

Speaking ahead of the seminar, Mr Sinclair emphasised that skin cancer ‘is one of the most preventable cancers'.

"In Australia, we started innovative public awareness campaigns 30 years ago, and we are now seeing the results of these with a downward trend in melanoma cases in younger age groups.

"It is vitally important that a comprehensive and well-resourced plan is put in place by the Irish government to tackle skin cancer in Ireland, or unfortunately, the significant human and financial burden of skin cancer will continue to increase," he said.

For more information on skin cancer, click here