Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party)
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I did not get an opportunity in the first round because we were very time constricted. I acknowledge the work in libraries. I know Barnardos does fantastic work and I am aware of the Fighting Words series. I often read the Roddy Doyle bits in The Irish Timesand brought them into some of my senior classes. I may have kept them away from the stories by 17- and 18-year-olds with the slightly more fruity language and kept them towards the front of the handout, but it is fantastic work.

I know the Barnardos Roots of Empathy programme also focuses on intergenerational skills because very often these things are passed down generations. Very often it is that the parents do not have the skills either. I know Mr. Kelly would be of that opinion in terms of growing. Very often you have to go back to the grandparents who know the time to set seeds and so on. That is very important work the programme does because the child is a product of his or her environment. We have to work on the child but we also have to work on the surrounding environment. Upskilling school staff is also part of that.

Since the opportunity presents itself, I will raise something that is tangential but related to this discussion. Will Dr. Muldoon comment on the ESRI report on nine-year-olds released yesterday? He might not have had time to peruse it yet. It shows some positive trends but we might all dwell on the negative unduly. I see that instances of eating together as a family has fallen from 72% to 67%. Mr. Kelly often talks about food empathy. If people do not sit together as a family, I do not know where the discussions about food happen, but I do not know where that chat happens between parents and children. Participation in sports has fallen from 44% to 34%. The proportion of children in that age category who own mobile phones, and I am trying to hold back this tide at home, has moved from 44% to 55%. I suspect that in future we will talk about mobile phone ownership among young children in a way we talk about cigarettes today. I suspect it does a great deal of damage.

I worry about the mental health impacts, body health and the completely unrestricted access that is possible if young people have their own Internet-connected devices and can use them in an unsupervised way. I invite Dr. Muldoon to comment on this comprehensive report, although one minute and 20 seconds may be a short time to do so.