Ms Kate O'Flaherty:

Under the free GP care for children under six scheme, children are weighed and measured at ages two and five. I do not have the exact percentages but we do know that the take-up in respect of that scheme is very high. It is in the early stages but part of the point of having those weights recorded is that it gives us a national profile of the population. There are also issues around interacting appropriately with parents and not doing anything in a stigmatising manner. Great care must be taken not only with regard to the setting but also in how to approach the weighing of children. Even the GPs who are doing it now for younger children need training on how to broach the subject and discuss the results with parents, particularly if a child is showing signs of being overweight at an early stage. GPs can refer them on or advise them on the supports that are available which may be helpful. There is an issue around that. I know that the committee has heard from others who have suggested that children should be weighed in schools but that is not something that we have considered because of the question of how that could be done in an appropriate manner. Furthermore, all children have free access to GPs, who are already doing that weighing. Part of the approach we are taking cross-departmentally and under the new strategy to which Dr. Brooks referred and our joint campaign, START, is about providing supportive messages to parents. Several witnesses who have appeared before the committee previously have pointed out that many parents, for various reasons, do not recognise that their child may be overweight or understand the implications of that. We must work in a supportive manner in terms of determining where parents are at and outlining the small things they could start doing which would be helpful.

In response to Deputy Rabbitte's first question, we are developing new healthy eating guidelines for one to five year olds. The Food Safety Authority's scientific committee is close to finalising the scientific guidelines for that and we will develop a new suite of resources for one to five year olds. That will be useful not only to parents at home but also in all early years care settings, regardless of the time spent there by children. We have nutrition standards in schools but there will be more clarity on nutrition and supportive suggestions on how to have a healthy diet. Sometimes people know what it should be like but find it difficult to attain it in real life.