Dr. Jenny Mack:

It slightly relates to the Deputy's previous question; I was just about to come in there. On food insecurity, the institute has done quite a lot of work on obesity prevention for the departments of health in Northern Ireland and Ireland. Our work has mainly looked at the policy measures, and the evidence behind those policy measures, as to what is the most effective in trying to prevent obesity. No country on this earth has been successful in preventing obesity to date. The measures we have the most developed evidence for are looking at fiscal policies, subsidising healthier foods and taxing unhealthy foods, but the issue of food poverty speaks to social inequity, the determinants of health and the inequity we face in society. That is very much the core of what we do, in particular in terms of child poverty measures. I do not have the detailed evidence in front of me but there is the distribution of free school meals, for example, and different measures. If we take a life-course approach to prevention of obesity and food poverty, trying to create conditions that are more equitable at a young age is where the policy in health needs to be directed.

On the Deputy's previous question on divergence, I agree with Ms Costello that, in general, we are working towards the same goals in preventing harm from alcohol and tobacco, and skin cancer prevention. Our environmental governance frameworks are relevant and parallel to health. These are quite different North and South in terms of our policies on climate change and air quality. We know that the environment is an incredibly powerful determinant of health and health equity. I would really like to see a more collaborative approach towards environmental policy because with Brexit and the Windsor Framework, it is only going to become more difficult. A very good report was produced by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the Irish environment agency that looked at the divergence of environmental governance North and South. We have very different policies on air pollution and climate. Taking the most ambitious of those, and having human health, equity and social justice at the centre of them, would make a big difference to public health.