A “bizarre anomaly” that places sunbed sessions in the same goods and services tax category as yoga studios and beauty salons must be addressed says the Irish Cancer Society.

Passive smoking causes “irreversible” damage to children’s arteries, ages their blood vessels by three years, and significantly increases the risk of heart or stroke problems in later life.

People who smoke 20 cigarettes a day are racking up bills of more than €200,000 over the course of their life, while “social smokers” are tripling the risk of heart failure without even realising it.