Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 26 September 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed)

9:30 am

Dr. Anne-Marie Brooks:

There was a question around healthy eating in preschools and regulation. I had mentioned that there is a requirement to have healthy eating guidelines in registered services. The recent Tusla publication on the quality and regulatory framework sets out guidance on what should be incorporated into a healthy eating policy. The publication sets out that the policy should be informed by the food nutrition guidelines for preschool services. It sets out guidance around serving sizes and how these should be promoted and on display for parents to see. There is guidance on that. The regulations are inspected by Tusla. The agency goes into preschool services and inspects against the regulations. That is one of several regulations.