Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We need to face up to the fact that there is a lifestyle issue here. We are well down a very unhealthy and catastrophic road where young people will die before their parents. I have been talking about this until I am blue in the face and I believe that we, as a Government and society, are not doing enough. Every time I suggest some measure, and I think it is going to have to come from so many different angles, I am hammered by certain people who are libertarians. They are the very people who will criticise us for tax measures that we must put in place because we need money to take care of the health service and everybody will be sicker and sicker because of this. This is a rant but I feel so passionately about this. The pre-pregnancy issue is so crucial because it is a case of monkey see, monkey do. At the end of the day, we cannot expect children not to drink, smoke or eat a lot of sugar if their parents do. We need to educate ourselves first and foremost. I do not know how we as policymakers can do this. I am trying to be constructive in a sense without being too negative. The witnesses have given us a long list of things we need to do. How are we going to get all this done? Is enough of a system in place? The witnesses mentioned funding and, obviously, resources are a huge issue, but how are we going to have the will among policymakers to do this? Is it something we can do because I am withered at this stage talking about it?