Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I am interested in the witnesses' views on weighing kids. From speaking to teachers anecdotally, there seems to be a flip side to PE. Obviously, I take on board the point that facilities might not be there but there seems to be a push back relating to some culture or subculture regarding the lack of interaction with PE on the part of students.

Have any studies been done on the reason for that? What I am hearing is anecdotal evidence from friends of mine who are teachers and other people I meet in schools when I visit them. Is that coming from a culture of electronics, games and telephones or is it something more systematic? Is it a subculture or is it some sort of psychological effect? I am not saying that is a blanket situation but it seems that, more than ever, a certain cohort is pushing back against it and making excuses such as forgetting the gear and so on. Why is it making excuses? Is it to do with insecurity around body image, fashion or whatever? I do not know. I am just speaking anecdotally on that.

The third issue I want to raise concerns supervised or structured play, particularly in primary school. There is a certain age at which children are not allowed run around or whatever. I am probably being simplistic in terms of the role. I do not work in the area but I would like to get the witnesses' thoughts on that because that could be extremely restrictive in terms of children's development, risk taking, seeing what it is like to play with a ball and all those life skills one learns as a child. I do not have any qualification in that area. I started out as a teacher many years ago. I have not practised recently but that is anecdotal feedback I am getting and I would be very grateful for the witnesses' comments on that.