Mr. Chris Macey:

I thank the Chairman for inviting the Irish Heart Foundation to today's meeting. I thank all the members who are present for the interest they have shown in this crucial issue. We believe the State is failing in its duty of care to protect the health of children. The facts bear this out. One in four children at primary school level is overweight or obese, as is one in five teenagers. Those rates are rising despite the measures being taken by the food industry, as outlined by the previous speaker. Some 23% of heart disease, which is responsible for approximately 2,000 deaths in Ireland each year, can be attributed to obesity. If legislators do not act decisively, we face an even worse future and the prospect of a generation blighted by chronic disease, long-term ill-health and premature death.

At a time when the rights of children are at the centre of the political agenda, it is extraordinary that so little is being done to protect them from the powerful environmental forces that can lead to children being overweight or obese. Political leadership is needed. Up to now, responsibility has been pushed to parents and children themselves. It seems that anti-obesity measures focus mainly on what parents and children can do to reduce risk. Media campaigns and education programmes are valuable to a point, but we need to tackle the principal driver of obesity: the ever-growing availability of cheaper, tastier and more calorific foods and beverages. Powerful and sophisticated marketing techniques that overwhelm parental will are resulting in the excessive consumption of energy-dense and nutrient-poor products. Policies which could tackle this damaging food environment, such as the prohibition of the marketing of junk food to children, the introduction of traffic light labelling and the taxing of unhealthy drinks and foods, have been slow to win political support.

I do not wish to criticise the Department of Health or the Minister, Deputy Reilly. They deserve much credit for the important work of the special action group on obesity, which I am sure the committee will hear all about in a few minutes, but they cannot tackle this complex societal issue on their own. Progress can only be achieved through a whole-of-Government approach, as Mr. Dempsey suggested. Such an approach needs to be led by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and should be given solid support from all Departments, including the economic Departments that often bat for the industry. Rather than having to make a choice between public health and the food industry, we are required to strike a balance between the two that puts children's needs to the fore.

Higher rates of people being overweight and obesity are inevitable consequences of the commercial approach of producers of high calorie, low nutrition foods and drinks. Their primary remit is to maximise profit for their shareholders by selling as much as they can. The commercial requirement to keep selling more and excessive consumption go hand in hand, which means that industry self-regulation cannot work. Therefore, the Government needs to make regulations that strike a reasonable balance between industry profitability and public health.

We believe there are four immediate areas of action that could bring substantial public health benefits, lead to extra revenue for the Exchequer and provide food companies with incentives to provide healthier options. We can take fiscal measures, for example, by introducing taxes and subsidies to promote health; we can protect children from marketing tactics; we can make schools healthier and more protected environments; and we can increase physical activity.

As sugar sweetened beverages have no nutritional value, taxing them cannot be regressive. It is estimated that children who consume such drinks receive approximately 20% of their recommended daily sugar intake from them. In its pre-budget submission, the Irish Heart Foundation is calling for a sugar sweetened beverage tax that would increase the price of such products by 20%. In addition to its obvious health benefits, this measure could yield approximately €60 million in extra revenue that we believe should be used to subsidise the food industry to provide healthier options for children in particular. This could also provide a win-win scenario for public health and the soft drink industry. Sugar consumption would fall and the introduction of the tax would provide an impetus for the industry to reformulate its products, avoid the tax and potentially access new markets, as well as funding subsidies for healthy produce. We are not calling for the introduction of a fat tax in our pre-budget submission. Instead, we are asking for the immediate prioritisation of a full regulatory impact assessment, including a health impact assessment, of such taxation.

My colleague, Ms Mulvihill, will go through the other measures we are advocating. As the Chairman said, she is the health promotion manager of the Irish Heart Foundation. She was also a member of the national obesity task force.