Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 27 June 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed)

9:30 am

Mr. John Treacy:

From my professional experience, that should be greatly encouraged. As the Chairman stated, we all grew up running out the door and involving ourselves in some activity with our friends. The informality around that was fantastic. As the Chairman indicated, he was out of the house all evening and television was not been watched. There are a great many demands now on children's time. Television and technology have a huge impact on this without a shadow of a doubt. There is the question of whether parents feel safe allowing their children to go out. That is another factor that was not prevalent 20 or 30 years ago but it is a factor now. There are all those factors. We would certainly strongly encourage that type of activity to take place on the greens. It comes back to having physical activity for 60 minutes a day. Children are going to sports and playing them a great deal but because they are not involved in those informal activities, they are not meeting the recommended guidelines. It is a critical element. We would like to see more informal activity.