Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 17 July 2014
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform
Pre-Budget Submissions: Discussion (Resumed)
10:50 am
Aideen Hayden (Labour)
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Is there anything we can do about that in a fiscal sense? People are being sent mixed messages here. Children in school are taught about the food pyramid but they can walk down the corridor and buy Coke, crisps or whatever from a vending machine. It is a case of do not do it, on one hand, and there is a machine in the corridor to allow them to do it, on the other. The position is the same with sports clubs. We are trying to encourage people to be more physically active and yet those who frequent such clubs have easy access to various types of fizzy drinks. Is there anything we can do, from a fiscal perspective, to tackle that aspect of this matter?