Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this subject. I think we have somewhat of a graveyard shift in the Chamber today, this being the last debate before the Easter recess and following a debate about the banks in which there was significant interest from the media. I do not know if there will be much of an interest in this debate. Perhaps I should not refer to the graveyard shift because once one ends up in a graveyard, one does not stay obese for very long.

This is a serious issue but we can do something about it, even in these straitened financial circumstances. Many of the 93 recommendations in the task force on obesity report do not cost much money or perhaps none at all. Society can take practical steps to deal with the problem and to prevent its occurrence, which may not cost any money.

I refer to the importance of a cross-departmental and cross-societal approach to this issue. I find no fault with either the current or former Minister of State in terms of their commitment to this issue. The responsibility for addressing it goes beyond the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, and her predecessor, Deputy Wallace, but there is no evidence to indicate that it is being addressed in a serious manner at all levels of Government. I would contrast us with Finland, which managed to reduce its obesity levels because it took the issue seriously.

The Minister of State described the current state of obesity and compared us to other countries. I would not clap myself on the back because we are not as bad as the United States, which offer the best example of how awful obesity levels can become. I recently spoke to a friend who had just returned from the US and attested to the enormous portions served in restaurants there. How much rather than what one eats makes the difference in terms of obesity.

We have to adopt a broader approach. The latest report of the intersectoral group, which issued in April 2009, indicated that just over 30% of its recommendations had been implemented, a further third had been partially implemented and a 25% were being progressed. I ask the Minister of State when the next report will issue because considerable progress remains to be made. Five of the recommendations are aimed at high levels of Government and a number of them pertain to Departments, particularly in regard to the physical environment and the education, social and community and health sectors. We will not be able to make progress unless we engage with the recommendations at that level. I urge the Minister of State to ensure the intersectoral group engages the recommendations with a view to implementing them.

We have to address this issue from birth onwards and there is even evidence to suggest that problems of obesity can first emerge at the prenatal stage. It is vital that all new mothers and fathers are brought into educational programmes, which could be initiated in maternity hospitals and continued in the community. It is an obvious point that everybody in the world was once a young child but it is often missed in our focus on the problems that have already developed by the time children are attending school. We should be aiming at preventing obesity. One person I heard speak on his issue argued that we have created an illness industry rather than a healthy living policy.

Deputy Reilly correctly pointed out that the incidence of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease could be significantly reduced by addressing the problem of obesity. This would allow us to save huge sums of money on health services. The Irish Medical Organisation has called for medium to long-term goals for reducing obesity levels because we will not see overnight results from preventive measures, a system for measuring expected health gains and the ring-fencing of funding so that it is not syphoned off for other programmes.

Serious issues arise for the Department of Education and Science in regard to physical education. On rainy days, many schools lack the facilities to provide physical activities and while it is on the curriculum in theory, it is not taught in practice. Looking at school photographs from 30 and 40 years ago, I was struck by the size of children compared to today. We must ensure that funding for physical education facilities is ring-fenced in the Department's capital budget. Schools which lack their own facilities have plenty of scope to engage with community and sporting organisations to ensure young children can access physical education. This can involve paying for children's transport and entry to facilities such as swimming pools. We need to think outside the box if these facilities cannot be immediately developed in schools.

The free year of preschool education offers an opportunity for the Government to insist on healthy eating programmes. The Minister of State referred to the guidelines for preschool facilities and hospitals but given that they are funded out of public money, why do we not insist on the promotion of healthy living?

Deputy Penrose has permitted me to reveal to the House that he has lost a considerable amount of weight by following the guidelines that were made available to him. He told me that the most important action is to step back from the table. While a considerable amount of information is available to the public on obesity, this in itself is not enough if we do not incorporate the societal measures to which I referred.

There is scope for ring-fencing revenue from taxes on alcohol and other products. We should connect these stick taxes directly to spending on positive measures to improve our lifestyles and make us more healthy. If we made such connections we would be better able to ringfence the funding we need for such programmes.

In her speech the Minister of State outlined specific measures which were also part of the recommendations of the task force. However, a narrow consideration of this matter from the point of view of the Department of Health and Children will not get the results we require. We need a high-level, cross-Government, cross-departmental approach to the issue. We must engage the public and present a positive public message to the effect that we are serious about the issue and that, even in a recession, we can start to achieve our ends. Other countries have done so but not within such a narrow focus. They have done with a broad societal focus and this is the direction in which we must go.

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