Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)

Given that 400 people are admitted to hospital each year with eating disorders, does the Minister accept that there should be a specialised service in each regional health service area to deal with this rather than just the three beds in Dublin? The Minister said there are 80 deaths each year or 20% of the eating disorder patients admitted to hospital. That is a significant number of deaths.

Perhaps the Minister will deal with another matter that has concerned me for some time, which is the eating disorder of obesity and the connection or influence it might have on those who have an eating disorder as outlined by Bodywhys. I congratulate Bodywhys on its work. The messages from the obesity campaign, which are important and correct and which I do not seek to criticise, might have an effect on those who have a starvation disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia. The message being conveyed to the people with those conditions is that eating too much is bad. Should the campaign not focus on having healthy eating habits and attitudes rather than on reducing the amount of food one eats? I am concerned there will be an increase in the number of eating disorders as we know them as a result of the message being conveyed about obesity, which is an important matter in itself. There should be balance in how this is dealt with.

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