Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, that is where I saw them recently. I also saw them in Amsterdam three years ago and thought it was unbelievable that there were approximately ten kids on a bicycle. It was tremendous, although Amsterdam is geared up for cycling and, therefore, a different kettle of fish.

There are effective ways to tackle the problem. We must get real. That also applies to adults. I do not mean to blow my own trumpet, but, like many Deputies, I am an educated person who went to college, earned a professional qualification and a foreign professional qualification. Six or seven years ago, however, I found that I was utterly clueless and uneducated about food, as many Irish people are. For example, I never considered the number of calories in fruit juice, but now I never move down the fruit juice aisle. It is amazing what a simple change like that can do. There is no need to drink fruit juice and children should never drink it. One might recall the tiny glasses of orange juice one might have had with one's breakfast years ago. Where have they gone? People now drink large glasses of orange juice which are full of sugar and calories and making the country fat. People do not eat enough peanuts, peas, chickpeas, beans and so on. They are not part of our diet, but we must incorporate them into them. People do not eat enough vegetables. Farmers grow all the broccoli, cabbage, carrots and other good foods that we need, but we do not eat enough of them.

I have given my little bit of wisdom. We must educate ourselves as parents and citizens, and we must take responsibility and show a good example. We must stop this pattern as there are people who are destined for a life of ill-health because of it. All of us in society have a responsibility for the deaths that will result from the obesity epidemic. People die all the time from it and will continue to unless society as a whole and the western world cops on. We need to do that quickly.

People speak about alcohol being a reason for obesity but it is not a factor in childhood obesity. The main issue is eating too much food so we must get real about portion size. A child's meal in Burger King is enough for an adult's snack. It is the truth. I go to Burger King the odd time - it is a rare occurrence - and I order a child's meal because it is big enough for a bit of lunch. We must start educating ourselves about such matters. I find calorie counters useful and I strongly urge anybody who is interested to consider calorie counting and apps such as MyFitnessPal that help add up what a person eats on a daily basis. It is what works for me, and I have been counting what I eat for the past six or seven years. My weight has gone down, predominantly, although it is a constant battle.

I just wanted to give my own pearls of wisdom and encourage others to do what has worked so far for me. It is a constant battle and I want to reassure those who find it hard. It is a difficult process but we can do certain things to make it easier. We need to talk more about the topic as well and give reassurance to people that when they fail, they can get on an upward path again. We should, with our children, eat less food but enough while moving much more. Let our children free on housing estates and towns. When I was eight I was allowed to go to the supermarket on behalf of my mother. That does not happen now and kids are not allowed out. There may be valid reasons for this but we must give a bit more freedom to our children during daytime hours so they can be out and about and moving. It would help address the obesity epidemic.

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