Ms Maureen Mulvihill:

The committee is well aware of the facts surrounding Ireland's obesity crisis. Ireland has one of the highest proportions of overweight children in the EU. The figures are alarming. One in four three year olds, one in four primary school children and one in five teenagers is overweight or obese. These figures mean that the problem of obesity is likely to continue to be a challenge at post-primary level well into the future. Physical activity plays a vital role in combating obesity and cardiovascular disease, which is still the leading cause of death in this country. That is why we have a huge interest in this topic.

PE is a key component of physical activity for young people. It allows children to develop the necessary physical literacy skills and knowledge to lead healthy and active lifestyles for life. The Growing Up in Ireland study shows that there is a link between being physically active and maintaining a healthy weight. Thirteen year olds who took more exercise were less likely to be overweight or obese. Some 36% of post-primary pupils do not take part in extra-curricular school sport, which is another component of physical activity and is central to the school curriculum in so far as it relates to PE. Those who do not take part tend to be pupils from lower social classes and older pupils.

As members will be aware, the national guidelines on physical activity for young people recommend that they should have 60 minutes of such activity each day. Just 12% of post-primary pupils achieve this. Ironically, a similar percentage of students - 10%, in this case - are in classes that meet the current PE guidelines in schools. It is important to stress that physical activity benefits young people socially and emotionally, as well as physically. The links to mental health, development of self-esteem and social skills cannot be over-estimated in the current climate, where concerns about the mental health of our young people are high.

Evidence is increasingly emerging that being sedentary, for example, due to sitting in a school classroom for over six hours, is an independent risk factor for health. The important thing is to break the sedentary time with activity, ideally as frequently as possible. Unfortunately, the opportunity to be active inside and outside school is diminishing due to environmental influences, such as increased motorised transport to and from school, due to issues of safety and due to a lack of facilities inside and outside school that can be used for activity. Young people's learning and leisure opportunities are now more sedentary by virtue of the influences of television, the Internet and social media.

All of this makes PE more important than ever. That is recognised by the obesity task force. As Mr. Macey has mentioned, that was also recognised in the Healthy Ireland framework. It is ironic, therefore, that the proposed new junior cycle framework is recommending that PE should have shorter hours. How will the new PE framework meet the greater needs of disadvantaged pupils and older girls, who are less likely to take part in sport? In the specific case of girls, we know that minutes of PE influence levels of physical activity. We have excellent data on the need for young people to engage in physical activity and PE. We should be using that data to guide us.

For 20 years, the Irish Heart Foundation has worked with schools to support the teaching of PE at primary and secondary levels. We have done this because physical inactivity is a major risk for heart disease and stroke. It is in the same category as smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol. I have outlined the relationship between physical inactivity and obesity. The foundation has a track record in this area. Our only interest is the health of our young people. In our view, the new junior cycle framework does not recognise the importance of PE not just for health, but also for learning and cognitive function. There is increasing evidence of the importance of PE in this respect.

We contend that the reduced status given to PE in the new framework, as an optional short course and-or one of the "other learning experiences", means it is likely that fewer students will take PE. We urge the Department of Education and Skills and indeed this committee to reconsider this decision. We would like to see schools provide core PE following the junior cycle PE curriculum. Perhaps this could be positioned under the "other learning experiences" section of the new framework. We suggest that this would not be assessed, but that an additional short course on PE which would be assessed could also be offered.