Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 10 July 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Childhood Obesity: Discussion

9:30 am

Ms Catherine Curran:

The children's commercial communications code is a mandatory code. It is in place already. It was last updated, I think, in 2016. It does not include online content. There will be a review of a number of different codes under Coimisiún na Meán. It has already set out the online safety code itself, which deals with the immediate threat of physical harm and to physical life. The children's commercial communications code is where we hope to see what we will urge to see. In the Department of Health, we have an intersectoral working group on this, bringing together a number of different Departments, and we have Safefood sitting on it as well. We hope the children's commercial communications code will be updated to address online and digital marketing to children, and strengthened in this field too.