Eamonn Coghlan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses from "Operation Transformation" and the team leaders. Although not a member of the committee I wanted to listen to the conversation that has taken place. The presentation was the most inspiring I have witnessed in any of the committees on which I have sat in recent years. In regard to the restaurant, I do not think the issue is the calorie count but to go light on the portions put on one's plate. It takes discipline to say that.

As one who has run 100 to 120 miles per week to achieve whatever goals I had in my sport and being very conscientious about proper diet in order to achieve excellence, I was fortunate to be reared in a family that educated me in exercise, running around the streets of Drimnagh. I am fortunate that my children and nobody in my family has health issues, such as obesity. I am fortunate that my little grandchildren of one and four years of age are already developing literacy skills. This is where we have to nip it in the bud going forward. We can talk in here until the cows come home. We can talk about the seven-point plan and the wonderful suggestions.

Those seven-point plans are a no-brainer. We all know about them. It is all the simple things. Implementing change is the most difficult aspect. The Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport all do wonderful things in many different areas around the country. We need synergy, with everyone coming together. There is an old cliché about obesity. Sometimes I look at people and wonder how they could have allowed themselves become so overweight. We are what we eat. What one puts in and what one puts out makes the difference. I ask the team leaders, if they were to turn back the clock to being very young again, what changes they would make.