Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will speak first. I am delighted to speak to this all-party motion to establish a committee to devise a long-term strategy for health care. I hope it will be as successful as the Sub-committee on Dáil Reform on which I served since the first meeting of the Dáil and which was chaired most ably by the Ceann Comhairle. All members of the sub-committee represented the Members elected to the House. It was very constructive and positive and while its members held different views, they came to a consensus. If we can achieve the same with the new committee that is being established with the Members who will serve on it seeking to achieve something positive for the population that will ensure the delivery of health services will be much improved, that will be a very good outcome. I urge Members who have not thought of serving on it to put their names forward and to serve on the committee if they get the opportunity to do so. It will be an enriching experience for them and I hope the outcome will one of which we can all be proud and that we can all look forward to implementing its recommendations.

Much of the focus of the health service is on the difficulties that arise within it. However, any of us who has had occasion to experience the health service has found that once one is in the system, one is looked after very well. The front-line staff are fantastic and patients receive exceptional care. The focus will be on whether there are delays in emergency departments and whether there are patients on trolleys to try to come up with strategies to reduce such delays.

The focus of the Government is on improving people's health and well-being to keep them out of the health system. This is a positive direction to take. We want to put strategies in place that will ensure people will take positive steps to improve their health and well-being and that of their children through schools and in communities and through taking responsibility for their own health helped by public information programmes, the HSE, Departments and cross-departmental efforts to ensure people will become more physically active and cut out or cut down their alcohol consumption and tobacco use. Some of the figures are stark. When we consider all of this, we note the importance of focusing on what we can do for ourselves, ably assisted by the agencies charged with responsibility of assisting us in that regard.

The level of obesity is of great concern. I am conscious of it as a parent who has reared children and I also see its high incidence among young people. Unfortunately, one in four children and around 60% of the population are obese. I will have to look into my own heart on this one. I always thought I was curvaceous, but I have been told I am obese; therefore, I had better do something about it. We are getting older and need to maintain our cardiovascular health to try to resist developing conditions that will leave us prone to having a stroke, a heart attack or developing cancer and to all of the other difficulties that we all know only too well having seen family members suffer from some of these conditions or bad health outcomes. Obesity levels are, unfortunately, also higher among those in the low income bracket in society.

That is something we need to be concerned about. We need to look at the type of food people are eating and to encourage them to eat better food and to avoid fast food. Actions will be put in place in the coming months in terms of our obesity strategy which we will, hopefully, launch very soon. There will be actions in terms of the public alcohol Bill which will address among other things preventing young children from being exposed to advertising and the marketing of alcohol. There is quite a lot of action taking place.

If we look at obesity again, "Operation Transformation" on RTE is partnered by the Department of Health. There are also partnerships with the GAA in terms of getting young people active and moving. All of these things are very beneficial because physical activity is good not only for one's physical well-being but also one's mental health. Reading into my brief recently, I came across a figure on alcohol consumption and its impact on people's mental health. As it is a depressive, people who are hoping for a lift might only get a temporary one. In the long-term, however, they will not get any benefit from it. In fact, the incidence of alcohol in relation to suicide shows that it is involved in more than 50% of cases. That is something we need to take care of because it is of great concern to me in my new role. The national physical activity plan, which I touched on earlier, is also of incredible importance. It is something I urge everybody to have a look at to see how they can use the ideas contained in it to encourage those within their communities to engage also.

There are many challenges but I am very optimistic. If we can focus on a practical level on keeping people out of the health system and have them take positive actions in terms of their own health, it will cost a lot less and we will all have longer and healthier lives. That is what all of us want for ourselves and our children. I hope sincerely that when the committee is established, there will be a very positive attitude to it and that people will adopt a very constructive approach. At the end of it, I hope we have something we can all stand over, be proud of and see delivered into the future.

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