Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witness. I want to put this in context, as it flows from the Commission on Taxation and Welfare report. For me, that report made grim reading. We have obesity levels, which from an economic point of view and for taxation purposes, means the equivalent per capitaannual tax needed to cover increased fiscal pressure due to overweight is second only to the United States of America. That is a shocking statistic. When we see some of the other statistics related to obesity, and the cost of obesity, it is really alarming. In this context, we are talking about the success of the sugar-sweetened drinks tax. It is a tax I supported. I believe it can lead to behavioural change. As has been mentioned that behavioural change happened in the industry itself, mainly where they changed the structure or component for much of the drinks. The question is raised about whether it is as simple or as likely to happen with foods with high levels of sugar. That is my question for the Irish Heart Foundation. How confident is it that it would see a change in industry, as opposed to a penalty on consumers in terms of the drinks? I know we are waiting for the Irish report, which is ridiculous five years on. Across the water, they produced it within a year and a half. We expected the same change to happen here in Ireland as it did in Britain. Does the Irish Heart Foundation expect the same to happen if a tax were to be introduced for food products?