Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank those who have presented to the committee. Recently I heard a statistic of which we should all be conscious. This is the first generation of children whose life expectancy is shorter than that of their parents. There is an onus on all of us to tackle that. Dr. Eva Orsmond made an important point on obesity. We are in straitened economic times but there is money to be saved.

The obesity problem is costing the health sector alone €5,700 every single minute of every single day. There is plenty of money to be shaved off and invested in other sectors of the health service.

Dr. Eddie Murphy touched on the issue of mental health that is continually ignored. The five leaders from "Operation Transformation" are a good example. The attitude change, with the leaders making dramatic changes in their outlook and perspective on life during the course of the programme has a significant benefit from the mental health perspective.

We are raising the challenges relating to suicide in society. I think we can assist society if we focus our investment on mental health. It is about an attitude change. As Deputy Catherine Byrne said we must try to give parents the tools so that they can assist their childrenand thereby change that statistic. We all wish that children will have a longer life expectancy than their parents.

It was only after it was mentioned here this morning that I recalled that in some supermarkets one must go out of one's way to find the fruit and vegetable section. Other supermarkets are designed in such a way that one is forced to go through the fruit and vegetable section. I think that even that small step would be a step in the right direction that retailers could take immediately in many cases.