Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael)
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Convenience food and dashboard dining are things that perhaps should be discussed more widely. I do not want to force a societal issue on one group of individuals, but I believe retailers have a role to play in this, in terms of trying to promote healthier eating. In the last committee hearing on obesity a number of weeks ago it was mentioned that one or two of the multiples, in my experience, had incredibly colourful displays of fresh produce, including fruit and vegetables, as one walks into their store as a rule. In order to enter the store one had to pass all of the fruit and vegetables. However, there was then a change of ownership and that policy changed and it was suddenly half the entrance, then it got smaller again. The fruit and vegetable display has got bigger again in recent months. The retailer might have a role to play during that three minutes a person has standing behind someone at a deli counter at lunchtime. Can they do something about the options that are displayed above one's head? In many bigger stores they are visual choices. Do the witnesses have a view on the retailers playing their part by offering visual choices that are actually healthy as opposed to a fridge display unit resplendent with all sorts of products that have tons of mayonnaise thrown in on top of them, as opposed to the things they have never tried that they might equally like. That is just one observation, on foot of what Deputy Neville had to say.

Dr. McCrory, at the outset of the conversation, remarked that 19% of children aged three are overweight and 6% are obese, which is a shocking statistic. I imagine that the Chairman of the Committee on Health ten years ago would have been greeted with a lower figure but one that was heading to the level we have now reached. Perhaps, as Dr. McCrory pointed out, we will have another report unless we arrest this issue now. It is very clear to me, given the programmes that the other guests today present to primary schools, that education is of absolute importance. As Deputy Neville has quite rightly said, knowledge via public awareness campaigns rather than just education is great at changing mindsets.

That certainly worked for me. The witnesses referred to BMI. I worked out my own BMI. People probably would not guess it and it is not very healthy. My BMI is 28 because of my height. BMI does not work for me and never has because I have always been heavy and tall. For someone of an average height, however, BMI is a good barometer. Returning to the figure of 19%. As someone put it to me, a three year old does not come home from work at 6.15 p.m. and say "Feck it, I'll order a takeaway" and the three year old does not do the weekly shop. I am the father of a six year old and a four year old. It is parents who have ultimate responsibility in this area.

Bord Bia is funded by the State, whereas Laya is not. My view is that if this issue is to be arrested, the State must pay for it. Senator Noone mentioned the sugar tax earlier. I would go further. I am not a big proponent of sugar tax but if we are going to do it, we should do it properly and also look at fatty produce, sugar-sweetened drinks and all the various things that we find convenient and hence consume in large volumes. I would also like to see the State subsidise, in equal measure, healthy food produce. We have already seen the effect of the tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. Outside one of the very first of these meetings, I mentioned the question of the sugar tax to the Minister for Finance. He told me it had been delayed but it was already having a fantastic effect because they are all changing their formula. It is not about revenue raising but about changing mindsets. Nevertheless, if it is to raise revenue, whether it is €5 or €10 million, then we should put that into healthy eating, for example, the consumption of vegetables. We could subsidise prepared convenience vegetables that have been washed, diced, sliced and so on. Then a diced carrot could be similar in price to, if not cheaper than, a carrot. The one that has been diced would obviously have been handled and chopped so there are costs associated with that. Although ring-fencing is a much-used term in politics but rarely put into effect, I would love to see the moneys from the sugar tax ring-fenced for the production of healthy convenience food or towards subsidising it.

I turn now to the healthy programmes run by the Department of Education and Skills. The Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Education and Skills may part fund these and the witnesses noted that 40% of the funding comes from the EU. Is there an educational programme in the Department of Education and Skills specifically targeted at primary schoolchildren? Are the witnesses part of that or is it an overarching Government approach which has Bord Bia working on it?