Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the whole issue of education, we must also look at the available food items. One of the things we have really focused on is food reformulation, which is an extremely important aspect. We set up the food reformulation task force in 2021. Basically, it is about reducing sugar content by 20% and saturated fat and salt content by 10% within the industry. No matter how much education is done, if there are products available in the market which have a high sugar, saturated fat or salt content, there will still be a difficulty. Therefore, the food reformulation is very important. We have made a lot of progress in this regard.

It is actually interesting. The other issue relates to the tax on drinks. Due to the reformulation and the reduction in sugar content, we last year saw for the first time the amount of tax we are collecting reduced because manufacturers and producers have responded. A higher level of sugar content comes a higher level of tax.

They have now got the message, and as a result the level of sugar content is reduced and the level of tax we are collecting is reduced. The figure has dropped. We collected €32 million in 2022 and that reduced to €29.3 million in 2023. It goes to show that manufacturers have responded, and the sugar tax has made a difference. The other point is about reformulation. On education, we have worked on that but it goes to show that this approach about healthy living and healthy eating cuts across a range of Departments. We have the Department of Social Protection under Deputy Humphreys. The school meals programme has been successful, but there is also co-ordination about the contracts entered into. There are also guidelines with regard to what kinds of food must be supplied under the contracts. It is up to the schools to enter into the contracts, but the contracts have conditions on them too. That is important. On education we have a lot of work to do, but between all of the State agencies and Departments whether agriculture, Deputy Humphreys' Department, or the Department of Education, there is a lot of co-ordination and co-operation, and we are making progress. While the figure has remained static since 2012 on obesity and overweight, the target now is to reduce it further. It has not grown, but that is not acceptable. It is now about getting it down, and that is where we need to do more work. That is what the long-term plan will be.