Professor Sean Tierney:

The Acting Chairman asked about a fat tax. In our position paper on child health which we launched at the same time as our pre-budget submission and which is also available on our website, we suggested the introduction of a pricing structure to discourage the consumption of food with high-sugar, high-fat and high-salt content. However, we would also like to see encouragement of the consumption of healthier food. Taxes alone that are designed to raise revenue are not the solution of this problem, which needs to be comprehensive. Childhood obesity is an enormous problem in this country where up to one in four children is obese. It is a growing problem that affects more those from disadvantaged communities. Addressing that will need a comprehensive policy approach rather than a simplistic approach to new taxes. Rather than seeking to raise revenue with those taxes, we would rather a comprehensive approach, involving food labelling, urban planning, maternity and parental leave being addressed in a co-ordinated fashion.

I confirm that we propose a tax on cigarettes. On an alcohol levy, we need to consider in a constructive way the cost of alcohol on our health system. The impact of alcohol abuse, over-use and misuse is an enormous problem costing the State billions of euro. We need to focus on addressing that issue.