Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming here today. I was really taken aback when they spoke about the stigma around breastfeeding. Could they elaborate on the reasons for that? I am reading bits and pieces about it such as isolation, the fear of continued isolation and not being able to go out. It is a subject about which I do not have knowledge and I work a lot in the mental health area. I put my hands up, which is why I asked the question.

I agree about foods. I can only speak for myself. I do not have kids but even when I walk into a store and try to find a healthy snack without sugar or less sugar, I find it extremely difficult. I am searching for ten or 15 minutes and I am not a kid. I am not a parent with the weight of three or four kids hanging off them, having to get to school or dealing with lunch boxes or whatever it is - all those weights on top on them. Frequently, it is about convenience. It is about trying to get something fast and convenient. Much of that is around education. It is also about the market. The market just does not have it. I go into stores that just do not have it. They are not providing it. In respect of Deputy Funchion's point, probably lower-income parents in particular walk in looking for the best value for money for their budget when they have three kids. Number one, it is legal. It is in the shops so it must be okay in some way. It is being bought. It is not cigarettes or alcohol. It is food. That is probably the psychology behind it. The second thing is that for a certain amount of money, a person can get "X" amount of it, which is great because it will feed so many people over so many days and can be preserved because it will last in a fridge or freezer as opposed to fresh fruit and vegetables, which are quite perishable and go off. The time it takes to prepare food is another factor. All these weights are bearing down on people when they are making their decisions so it goes back to consumer buyer behaviour.

Have there been any studies around consumer behaviour and how that can be educated or altered when people make these decisions in the supermarket or shop given all the added pressures they face? This is not coming from the days of old. One could ask whether this is about the mollycoddled generation and how everything has been done for them. It is not that. It is just that the pressure is different. Pressures are fluid so the environment changes. What was there 30 or 40 years ago was very different from the pressures that are there today. They had pressures as well but they were different types of pressures. Are there studies around that because I do not know about putting a sugar tax on confectionery, any of these types of foods or processed foods like burgers because everything will rise together because there is not enough choice out there? This will not help less well-off people. I thinking about less well-off or vulnerable families who have to make these quick decisions but who do not have that space to do it. I would like to hear the opinions of the witnesses or whether there are any studies around that?