Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Especially to hear me. She is awake. Her uncle — that is me — was 19 stone and now I am the right side of 15 stone and 6 lbs. The reason for this is Operation Transformation. I proudly hold my certificate, signed by Senator David Norris and Gerry Ryan. I am lucky, I am here and I have done it. I just have to keep off the weight. I was obese and I am now overweight and I must reduce my weight further. The key message I want to give to Alana and everyone else is that it is all in our minds. It is a case of making up one's mind that one is going to change. Going on a diet does not make sense because that suggests I will go back to the way I was before I lost weight. I am not going back there. One must change what one does. The job of the State is to aid and assist that through the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Health and Children.

I am convinced the answer lies in the fact that everyone watches television and sees people they like and know and they want to see if they have changed on Operation Transformation. A cross-party group of Deputies and Senators, along with taxi drivers from Galway and mothers from Louth and Meath, competed against each other to lose weight. We all won because we lost weight. We are all feeling much better as a result. Let us carry that forward in our public broadcasting policy. It is a simple issue that RTE has addressed successfully but it needs to continue. The key to Operation Transformation was the reaction from the community. Mothers in particular talked about losing weight and how to do it. My message is that if I can do it, anyone can do it. It is a matter of making up one's mind to do it. The supports are very important but the message must continue to go through RTE, broadcasting and radio stations.

I agree with my colleague Deputy Devins. Let us get the food interests together and agree that we will make food that is right and good for our bodies. If we produce and sell food that is not good for us, we should change our ways. We should put up the red light if there is too much fat in those foods. We need a small amount of fat as part of our diet. The system should be such that green is good, if it is orange we must think about it and if it is red we must be very careful. There are rows and rows of supermarket shelves full of soft drinks and crisps. This would disappear overnight or at least get smaller if everyone — regardless of education, background or size — understood that if it is green one goes there, if it is orange one goes there occasionally and if it is red one seldom goes there. Putting anything else on food packaging makes little sense because people will not understand it.

The message is clear that we will live longer, healthier lives. Exercise is the key. I cannot believe that in the past three months I have been rollerskating, skating, running and walking. I have been doing just about everything. The only other thing I want to do is chase this Government out of office and I am happy to do so, beginning with Deputy Seán Connick.

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