Ms Janis Morrissey:

I would like to highlight that there is fantastic work happening in primary schools in terms of the curriculum but also at policy level, as we have already said. The vast majority of primary schools have healthy eating policies. Then our children transition to post-primary school, which is a very different environment in which they have greater autonomy financially as well. We are failing our children when they transition to post-primary school at the moment. We know that education is not enough to tackle obesity. We can educate parents and pupils but unless the world in which our children live supports them to put that education into practice, we will not tackle this problem.

School liaison officers were referred to earlier. This speaks to the importance of having a cross-Departmental approach. In our experience of being out in post-primary schools, we see that school liaison officers have a huge influence on children. They can be a great support to influencing what happens in schools. It shows how the Department of Social Protection has a vital role to play outside of the school meals scheme in influencing food provision within schools. However, we have found school liaison officers who have not been interested in the nutrition status of what is offered in schools.

It is a case of getting the children to stay in school and if that means offering a chocolate muffin or chocolate milk, so be it. There is a body of work to be done in order to have a consistent approach in maximising the support that school liaison officers can give us.