Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

The Broadcasting Bill is interesting legislation which consolidates what has happened in the past 50 years of Irish broadcasting legislation, going back to the Broadcasting Authority Act 1960, which established RTE, and the Radio and Television Act 1988, which introduced independent commercial broadcasting for the first time. Well done to the Minister for presenting this single consolidated Bill, which has significantly updated and modernised the legislation.

One of the key aspects of the Bill is the establishment of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which assumes the functions of the existing Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and takes on a number of new roles and responsibilities. The authority will have two statutory boards, the contracts award committee and the compliance committee. The authority has overall responsibility for the organisation in terms of preparing codes and rules for broadcasters, which is the area I wish to address. The work of the compliance committee will be responsible for ensuring that all broadcasters, whether public or private, comply with the conditions of their licence and with the standards set down in the broadcasting codes.

As Minister of State with responsibility for health promotion, I very much welcome the fact the Bill proposes new approaches to codes and rules for broadcasting in Ireland, in particular in regard to food advertising aimed at children. It retains the structure of the existing codes, including the children's advertising code, but significantly it allows for that code to specifically prohibit advertising aimed at children for food and beverages which give rise to health concerns. In essence, this means foods which are high in sugar, fat and salt but low in nutritional value. The overall nutritional value of foods will be important in this debate and in the move to lower consumption of high-fat foods. The other nutritional value of foods such as milk and other dairy products which are an important source of calcium and other minerals will need to be addressed in the debate.

The Minister spoke with great conviction during the debate. He has on several occasions outlined his commitment to this area. The Department of Health and Children has been watching the progress of the legislation for some time because we have concerns in regard to data which suggest there could be more than 300,000 overweight and obese children on the island of Ireland and the rate is rising at a probable 10,000 per annum. There is substantial evidence to support the view that advertising has a significant impact on what we eat, and particularly on what children eat. Research worldwide has shown that a high proportion of advertising aimed at children is for unhealthy foods which are high in fat, sugar and salt and low in nutritional value.

If we did not have enough evidence already, there are several reports which spell out what we need to do in this area. We could begin with the commitment in the current programme for Government which states we must work with the various broadcasting organisations and interested parties to review rules relating to the advertising of junk food aimed at young people with a view to phasing out such advertising.

The recent paper, Protecting Children from Unhealthy Foods, was brought forward by the National Heart Alliance and the Irish Heart Foundation. It recommends a restriction on television advertising for these foods from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and stresses that marketing of these types of foods has been shown to influence children's food choices, thereby contributing to the rise in obesity levels. The recommendation of the national task force on obesity is that we should all work together and that Departments, the private sector and consumer groups should take multi-sectoral action on the marketing and advertising of products that contribute to weight gain, in particular those aimed at children.

Before Christmas, we will have the national nutrition plan which recognises the growing concern about the level and content of food advertising aimed at children and young people, and notes that heavily advertised foods may differ from recommended foods. In other words, much food advertising concentrates on foods on the top shelf of the food pyramid, with which we are all familiar, whereas we will be encouraging people to eat foods on the bottom shelf of that pyramid. It is interesting to note that if one inverted the triangle of food pyramid, it would represent the proportion of the advertising focus on the foods involved.

I welcome the provisions of the Bill, particularly section 42, which provides that the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland will prepare codes governing the standards and practices to be observed by broadcasters. The subsections of particular interest to my Department are subsection (2)(g), subsection (4), subsection (5) and subsection (9), which deal with the issues of advertising, tele-shopping material, sponsorship and other forms of commercial promotion — in other words, protection of the health interests of children. They also deal with the issue of prohibiting advertising for a particular class or classes of foods and beverages in respect of the general public, in particular those which contain fat, trans-fatty acids, salts or sugars. Consultation with the health authorities is obviously important, and this is dealt with in subsection (5). Subsection (9) provides for the continuation of existing broadcasting codes, including the children's advertising code.

Given the public health impact of being overweight and obesity, we need to tackle this problem urgently. In particular we need to focus on the unhealthy eating habits of our children and young people. The Department of Health and Children believes this Bill, which allows for revised codes on advertising, gives us the opportunity to do this, and it is a first step in a multi-sectoral approach towards addressing the problem of obesity, which will have a significant impact. Halting the rise in obesity levels is critical given the link with a number of significant conditions such as high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, cholesterol, stroke and cardiovascular conditions. The problem needs to be seriously addressed at this time and these sections of the Bill will make a difference.

Hand in hand with the legislation, the health promotion unit in the Department of Health and Children is currently finalising the national nutrition policy which will have a particular focus on children aged from birth to 18 years while also dealing with the overall population. Officials from my Department will meet officials from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to discuss the proposed advertising code in more detail. We will also engage with other stakeholders in an endeavour to have agreed, workable codes in place within a reasonable timeframe. As we are focusing on the question of obesity as a priority, time is of the essence in terms of moving forward on these issues.

In conclusion, it is my opinion and that of the health promotion unit in my Department that the Bill provides a route to protecting the health interests of children. It addresses the issue of a broadcasting code to prohibit advertising and marketing of certain foods and beverages which contain fat, trans-fatty acids, salts or sugars considered to cause concern regarding the health of children. I join the Minister's comments in stating I am also sure many parents will warmly welcome this proposal, and the health promotion unit of my Department will work closely with officials in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to progress these important changes, as we believe they will make a difference.

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