Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is an area we are just beginning to research and this is one of the first reports we have received. Significant work has been done in Australia on the issue of body image and young people's view of it and how it impacts on them. The initiatives on bullying are an important way of dealing with this issue and that of mental health. Equally, the SPHE programme in schools, changes to the junior certificate curriculum and a different focus in certain areas of education mean these issues will be included in a more integrated and mainstream way. Also, some of the initiatives on physical activity in schools such as the one being promoted by Senator Eamonn Coghlan will help. I hope this initiative will be piloted in schools. We must examine what we are doing with regard to physical activity in schools and how children and young people are participating. I accept the Deputy's point that this begins at a very early stage; we should really start working on this issue at primary level.

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