Dr. Grace O'Malley:

Yes, potentially. The Deputy mentioned the no-fry zone. The call to limit fastfood outlets in areas of high socio-economic status is different from people who do not have as much of a voice in the public forum and where there is a greater density of fastfood outlines in lower socio-economic areas. The issue must be addressed by planners using a whole-of-government approach. The EU is considering the matter and it is an issue for all of Europe.

Community supports and mental health services have been mentioned. Understanding what the acceptance criteria of these services are is really important. Why do some services accept children with certain conditions but some will not even though they all receive funding from the public purse? We believe that every child needs to be able to access a service. Of course we accept that there must be prioritisation. If professionals have not been trained in a certain area, such as mental health services and obesity, then it must be acknowledged that the professionals need training and, importantly, such training must be provided.

In terms of determining the percentage of obese children who come from low socio-economic status, it is very hard to collect the data in a hospital. The only data that we have access to is the child's address, whether the child attends a DEIS school and, perhaps, whether he or she has private health insurance or a medical card. Collecting the data is not as easy as saying we think it is a certain percentage. Without questions around parental educational attainment, maternal educational attainment and income, it is very hard to get good data. We can use small area research unit data, based on the child's address, of whether he or she is from an area of disadvantage. We have stated that the percentage is in or around 40% but we extrapolated the figure from data that is four or five years old. The percentage may now be higher.