Dr. Cathal McCrory:

Absolutely. It is all contingent on funding. When Deputy Sean Sherlock was not present, I talked about the baby-friendly hospital initiative. I was concerned when the funding for it was cut. We need to implement something urgently, but it all comes down to funding. People say to me all the time, as a public health advocate, "Cathal, you must understand this costs money." I respond by saying I do understand it costs money, but Professor Ivan Perry has told us that if we do not challenge the childhood obesity epidemic, he has a projected cost of about €1 billion if we do nothing. It would be cheaper, therefore, to do something. I know that involves an upfront commitment from the Government in the next few years, rather than being kicked down the line. The reality is that we will need increased numbers of public health nurses and visitations.

My wife gave birth 15 months ago to a little boy and had a visit from the public health nurse. My wife said the public health nurse was absolutely essential in continuing to breastfeed. She went to a group, which is important, as is the frequency. It was not just about the provision of support with breastfeeding techniques; it was also about the provision of support in considering how to raise the child and such matters as deferring the introduction of solid foods, etc., some of the things we know that are important to a child's growth later in life.

That is one way we can do something active to disrupt the trajectory. The best way to do it is always through interception and prevention, rather than remediation. When we arrive at a stage where a child is already overweight or obese, we are trying to remediate the problem and it becomes much more difficult. That is the multifaceted intervention that was mentioned. It involves increased physical activity, better diet and changing parents' purchasing habits, etc. It becomes more complicated further down the line.