Ms Kate O'Flaherty:

I will address the overall question of physical activity. The current data is rather old so we are repeating data from the Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study, which was done in 2009 and published in 2010. That is why we have low figures of 9% and 12% around the number of children in primary and post-primary level meeting the physical activity guidelines. Our Department and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport are funding a re-run of that to see whether the numbers are more up to date. When we get that we will perhaps get a handle on whether the figures are a little better. That is a main part of the work across all our strategies. We have to get up-to-date data to inform us of how we are doing and where we may or may not be making progress. Certainly, we have a sense perhaps that there is more participation in sporting and physical activity in the population but it is more difficult to get an objective measure of that sometimes because it is self-reported. Then there is the question of how active people are, whether they meet the guidelines and how important that is. The question is how we have a measure of some activity, including play and so on. These things get a little technical but when we have the results of that in 2019 it might give us a better and up to date handle on how active our children and teenagers are. That study will be important.

Deputy Neville asked about the role of smartphones. I suppose there are always technological advances and things that make us more sedentary, whether cars or more people working in offices where they are sitting. That applies to smartphones as well. We are running the START campaign now with the HSE and safefood. Earlier we launched the new phase of that. It is not only a matter of physical activity and healthy eating; it is a question of supporting parents around other key drivers like sleep and screen time. There are no specific guidelines around encouraging people to reduce screen time but we do guide on the number of hours at certain ages to reduce excessive use. The key message is to have balance in a child's life. Obviously for young children there is no particular value in it, but certainly for older children and teenagers there is a great deal of educational and entertainment value in the things they do on their smartphones. It is about having the balance between physical activity and other social interaction that is good for their normal emotional and social development. It is something that we keep an eye on. Again, we have to go to parents with a supportive message about making some changes. It is not about cutting out screens or banning screens and what they should do instead. It is about supporting people to be aware of the detrimental effects of overuse. It is about balance in the child's life. It is about telling them about tips from other parents on how to introduce a regime in the home about hours spent watching television or screens. The idea is to give them positive suggestions and supports about things they may do instead. Much of that is direct interaction and play or other activity with their children. Again, our message to people is about how they can do that in a simple way without costing money. I hope that answers the question.