Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in and I applaud their courage in putting themselves forward for the "Operation Transformation" programme. How many calories should each of us take in per day? There is a message in what witnesses say in respect of listing calories. I suggest the committee write to the Dáil restaurant suggesting it lists the number of calories in the items on offer in the restaurant.

Should we have direct legislation on recording the number of calories? My sense is that we ought to have legislation because only a certain amount will be done voluntarily. People who are sporty will probably have sufficient exercise. There is a need to focus on how people who are not sporty can keep their weight down. That is a challenge for the witnesses and for committee members. Walking is an example. Part of the problem is that nowadays, we do not exercise in the natural course of events because we tend to travel by car. In the past, exercise happened naturally.

I wish to focus on schools and parents. Before election to the Dáil, I was a teacher so I am aware of the difficulty of encouraging children to eat healthily. If we are to succeed in getting children to eat healthily, it is very useful to have their parents behind them. Even if the children agree with the teacher in theory, when they go home they eat whatever is presented to them. It is a difficult challenge even where we are presented with obvious health reasons to do it.