Dr. Grace O'Malley:

We can only comment on the children who present at our unit. Let us consider national representative data such as Growing Up in Ireland - National Longitudinal Study of Children or the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative, COSI. That data is representative data for the whole population and is, therefore, more accurate. It shows that children who attend DEIS schools are twice as likely to be obese. The W82GO! unit only sees the children who have been referred to us and the ones that come straight to the unit. If we have referrals of more children who live in a more deprived situation then they may be the ones that cannot come to the hospital and, therefore, do not attend. We can only comment on who we see.

The Deputy referred to the fact that obesity has increased over the years. Without question, the food environment has changed in the past 20 years. I do not think anybody would disagree with such a view. More ultra processed foods are available and marketed, particularly to vulnerable groups such as children. Sadly, children are considered to be a vulnerable group. Also, physical activity has decreased throughout our society. In terms of running, there is more litigation in schools. The matter must be considered. One cannot have a situation where children are not allowed to run about during break time at their schools due to a fear of litigation. Internationally, there is a sleep debt. It has been discovered that people sleep two hours less now compared with 50 years ago. A proper amount of sleep is important if one wants to manage hormones that affect weight. Children sleep less due their use of technology. I know that some Oireachtas committees have recently discussed technology usage by children. It is important that all of us switch off our mobile telephones at night in order to protect our health. There are more online advertisements, and people spend more time online and have more screen time. All of these issues feed into how bodies gain weight. Social media is another issue.