Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 13 June 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed)

10:20 am

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms O'Malley for contacting me in annoyance because paediatric experts were not invited to the committee, as their voices were not being heard. I am delighted they are here because their presence is important. She made the point that we spend €1 billion on adult obesity and if some of that money could be allocated to childhood obesity it would be a good thing.

Deputy Byrne referred to parents. There is an ideal world, but in reality there are parents who are struggling. It is very difficult to deal with a child who is overweight. Sometimes it starts at birth. A baby can be very large and a mother may not be able to breastfeed or may not be educated on what to do. It is not just about what children eat around the kitchen table. It is difficult for working mothers who do not arrive home until 7 p.m. to have to put something on the table. We should educate them.

I wish to address a question to Ms Moroney, who is a paediatric dietitian. How can her message get to parents? One delegate said something which really hit me, namely, that sometimes it is not about losing weight. Any of us who struggles with weight knows how hard it is to lose one pound. It is very difficult to starve an obese child in order to lose one pound. The point was made that children's weight should be maintained and they grow into it. It was a positive message to convey to parents, rather than telling them to starve their children to lose a pound. I would like the delegates to make that point in a more professional manner than me.

A delegate sent me an e-mail which I read. I understand €5,000 was sought. I could not believe a group of professionals were begging for €5,000 to roll something out. The issue is very important and I hope we can get €5,000 to start the summer camp the delegation wants to run to train trainers. Dr. Murphy mentioned educating the educators. I come from a teaching background. We probably need to go into the colleges of education. I know what goes on.

We all know about vitamins, fats and what we should be eating, but we need to examine how we translate that message to children in a classroom. It is very difficult for a teacher at the top of a classroom who sees two or three children who are very overweight to teach that subject. Other groups have said children should be weighed in classrooms. I am totally against that. Visiting nurses conduct hearing and other tests in schools. I understand that in the past they weighed children. Perhaps children could be followed up in a systematic, professional manner. If there is a problem, let us all deal with it. It should not be something we never mention.

I would like the delegates to comment on the smartphone application. I do not know what they are talking about.

GPs should mention weight as a matter of course when patients visit them. I tabled a parliamentary question asking the Minister about the education of our young doctors and saying they should be trained in how to deal with children presenting with weight problems.

We should try to make sure the delegation has a budget and that we deal with our children who have morbidities. We are constantly discussing cyberbullying, the suicide epidemic and mental health issues. As somebody who has dealt with children I have seen girls or boys in the classroom who dip their heads and do not want to engage with classes such as swimming or PE. They do not want to go into a swimming pool in front of their classmates, and I do not blame them.

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