Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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In "A Healthy Weight for Ireland", one of the action points states that guidelines and support materials should be developed "for those working in developing the built environment for urban development and planning in relation to reducing the obesogenic environment". Practically speaking, how can that be reflected? If the aspiration is reflected in the development plan, how can that practical advice be translated?

We are dealing with this in Skerries. The people I live beside cannot understand why, if it is in the development plan, that cannot be translated into practical action. Where it is open to interpretation, should it be black and white so that there is guidance and that it is not case that these matters need to be debated but that they are a given? It must be made clear that reducing the obesogenic environment is what is prioritised and then all of the decisions flow from that. It strikes me that where it is open to interpretation, sometimes it is the community, in this case in Skerries, that will lose out as a direct result because no parent wants his or her child going to school beside a fast food outlet. The marketing is extremely aggressive because it works. There is pester power, etc. This is right beside where the children will go to school. It should be in black and white. There should not be room for interpretation.