Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion

9:30 am

Photo of Tom NevilleTom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I have a number of questions about the presentation. I thank the delegates for coming. They mentioned marketing. I have been in supermarkets in the past few days to look at their marketing. There is a conflict in that there are rows and rows of sweets, although it is said supermarkets use fruit and vegetables at the front to draw people in. What are the delegates' thoughts on shelf planning?

The delegates mentioned the stigma associated with being overweight, Will they share some of their experiences in that regard and eating disorders? Is there a difference in psychology or the approach to a situation where there is obesity and an eating disorder? Are there parallels from which we can learn because from my experience eating disorders need to be discussed more. Perhaps they have been discussed more than obesity which we are now starting to try to address.

On the initiatives to discourage fizzy drinks being provided at parties, prohibition does not work. It is the 80:20 rule. It is fine to do it for school lunches and in normal day-to-day activity, but there has to be a balance at parties or on special occasions because prohibition does not work, particularly with children. I hate to hark back to my childhood, but having a fizzy drink was a treat and was treated as such. I do not think prohibition would work.

Will the delegates address some of these issues?