Mr. Kevin McPartlan:

We share the frustration that the voluntary code of practice has been delayed in the Department of Health. The three organisations here were part of that working group. We spent two years on it and it was very tough to get agreement. Our members came a long way and it is frustrating for everyone involved that is stalled. I share the Vice Chairman's frustration.

The Vice Chairman asked about industry's investment in other interventions. We are in a difficult position.

Food Drink Ireland does not do so because we are a representative body that speaks on behalf of its members. Individual members do all sorts of things and are involved in a great deal of corporate social responsibility at local, regional and national level. It is difficult to say whether they would get involved in research projects relating to obesity. If a row of academics were lined up here to speak to the committee and one was entirely funded by the food industry, I am sure members would feel that his or her evidence was not terribly credible. I disagree about that, because scientific rigour should be applied and research should stand on its own two feet, regardless of who is picking up the tab, but that does not seem to be a commonly held view. Companies tend not to do that because it can make the resultant reports seem less credible. Food Drink Ireland paid for the reformulation report which I have given to the committee today. It cost many hundreds of thousands of euro to produce as there is a savage amount of data involved. We are collecting the data for a second iteration and we are nine months into that. It needs to go into a black box and be analysed against the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance, IUNA, data. It is ultimately paid for by members of the Food Drink Ireland health initiative.

The spend tends not to be on academic research but there is a lot of community activity. For example, many summer camps are supported by food and drink companies, something in respect of which there is often criticism. As Senator Noone stated, it is complex but it is a question of energy in versus energy out. We are part of energy in and we are encouraging people to get the energy out.