Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue. This is not the first time I have raised obesity and related issues in the House, nor will it be the last. My reason for doing so is to try to increase awareness of the complexity of the issue of childhood obesity and ensure it continues to appear on the radar of the Departments of Health and Education and Skills, as well as other Departments that have an input in this area, which is the most important public health issue the country will face for a generation.

Deputies will be aware of the various diseases and illnesses which occur as a direct consequence of obesity, notably hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and obesity related cancers. If we fail to intervene with the younger generation, intervention at a later date will be much more difficult. I contrast the lack of action being taken on obesity with the action taken elsewhere in the education system, namely, the green flag initiative.

Childhood obesity is largely linked to behaviour and the earlier one intervenes to change behaviour, the better. Some form of rewards mechanism should be introduced and what better rewards mechanism is there than a whole school or whole community approach to address the problem of obesity. The Department of Education and Skills may well argue that such an initiative, the active school flag initiative, is already in place and while this is a good scheme, its primary focus is on persuading children to become more active. I am seeking a more holistic approach to addressing the obesity problem, one which encompasses the healthy eating policies in place in many schools, the social, personal and health education, SPHE, programme in place in all schools and the curriculum content of science and other subjects. Such an approach is needed to ensure children are encouraged to have healthy eating as one of their goals and objectives.

Schools cannot act as nannies and the Departments of Health and Education and Skills cannot take responsibility for what individuals consume.

However, we have a responsibility to make people aware of what they are consuming and how it affects their lives. When we undertake a public awareness campaign, we also have an obligation to show all of the community the merits.

Environmental benefits accrued through the national reduction in litter are due in no small way to the green flag initiative. Schools across the country have green committees that are led by pupils and engaged with by teachers, parents, school management and the wider community. As public representatives, we have all been invited to celebrations at which local personalities and sports people to whom children look up have hoisted green flags. The flag has an obvious benefit.

The Department of Health, the Department of Finance or someone else can tell people that the best way to tackle obesity is to put an extra 10 cent on a bottle of Coca-Cola. While such an increase may be part of the solution down the road, tackling our eating behaviours and levels of activity and exercise through public pronouncements by schools - it could also be through workplaces - is essential. We will lose a generation. In 1990, one in ten Irish men was classified as obese. Today, the figure is one in four. Will be it one in two or even worse in 20 years time?

Under a US initiative, the First Lady, Ms Michelle Obama, moved away from the food pyramid that is outlined in every classroom in this country to a food plate, a simple schematic that shows people how to lay out a plate. This is not just an issue of food intake. Rather, it is an issue of sending people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and income levels a simple message about the associated health dangers.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. From the preventative point of view, I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments regarding the importance of raising awareness. If we can take preventative measures and utilise early intervention measures to tackle childhood obesity, it will have a positive effect downstream for the citizens themselves as well as for the Exchequer in terms of medical interventions and so forth.

The Department is committed to promoting healthy lifestyle choices among children and young people. This is reflected in the curriculum for primary and post-primary schools. The successful active school flag, ASF, programme also provides evidence to the effect that schools are keenly interested in ensuring that their students have positive attitudes to physical activities. However and as the Deputy articulated, there is only so much that schools can do. There is an onus on parents and the community to ensure that children are as active as possible outside of school.

The Department recognises the importance of cultivating healthy attitudes in children. This is reflected in the primary school curriculum for science, physical education and social, personal and health education, SPHE. Pupils are enabled to develop an understanding of food and nutrition, including the importance of food for energy and growth and the importance of a balanced and healthy diet along with being physically active.

In post-primary schools, the SPHE syllabus contains modules on healthy eating, and physical education promotes activity. The popular optional subject, home economics, also has a role to play. On 4 October 2012, my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, published a framework for the junior cycle. One of the principles of the framework is well-being. This principle will be underpinned by key statements of learning that require students to understand the importance of food and diet in making healthy lifestyle choices, to be confident and competent participants in physical activity, to be motivated to be physically active and to take action to safeguard and promote their well-being and that of others. A new short course in SPHE is being designed for 100 hours, some 30 hours longer than the current programme.

The Department seeks to recognise schools that strive to achieve a physically educated and active school community by awarding them the ASF. More than 1,000 primary and post-primary schools have registered for an ASF. To date, 156 flags have been awarded with the number expected to rise significantly during the coming year. Through the ASF process, schools have developed many innovative and exciting ways of encouraging their school communities to become more active.

In cultivating healthy eating attitudes in children, the 2009 life skills survey of primary and post-primary schools showed that 87% of the primary schools and 32% of the post-primary schools that took part in the survey operated a healthy eating policy. The life skills survey was repeated in 2012. It is hoped that the percentage of schools, particularly at post-primary level, with a healthy eating policy will have improved. The results will be published later this year.

The Department of Health and my Department collaborate and co-operate on a number of relevant areas, including healthy eating. The Department of Health has involved this Department and others in developing Healthy Ireland, a report that is to be published shortly. My Department is also a member of the Department of Health's special group on obesity, which is meeting today.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I welcome the fact that so many schools are in the pipeline for ASF awards, but it is not just a question of activity levels. It is also a question of what we ingest. For example, while I was teaching, a colleague told me of how he found a packet of digestive biscuits and butter when the lunch box of a child in his classroom was opened. When he met the child's mother subsequently, it was through no fault of her own that she pointed out that she had not given her child chocolate digestives.

There is a significant awareness problem. There is also a generational problem. RTE's "The John Murray Show" and others are doing fantastic work, but this is January. Not too many people discuss "Operation Transformation" in June or July. The issue falls off the list of national priorities until we start discussing it again after Christmas. As I stated at the weekend, people will rush out to buy bicycles, runners and so on and will tear around the country for a couple of weeks before reverting to their old habits in February.

We need to change people's behaviour. We can only do so by making the appropriate intervention at a young age. In every house that is home to a child whose primary school is actively engaged with the green flag initiative, parents will have drummed into them the message of recycling, separating waste, composting, energy efficiency, water usage and a clatter of other issues. The same needs to apply in this case. We must make a more concerted intervention. It is already being done in schools, as the Minister of State outlined, but we need to pull it all together. We need to encourage people to recognise that what they are ingesting, combined with their physical output, will have a significant effect.

This problem costs the Exchequer €4 billion per year in the form of the HSE's budget for obesity related illnesses. The situation will only worsen at a time when we cannot even afford basic services. This intervention might cost a few euro, but whatever we can draw out of it and whatever behaviours we can change will bear fruit.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I do not disagree with anything the Deputy has stated. He is spot on in trying to raise levels of consciousness around this issue. The Department of Education and Skills is part of the Department of Health's special group on obesity.

Deputy O'Donovan illustrated an example of a child with digestives.

The child did not pack the lunch box and neither did the teacher. It was the parent. Schools act in loco parentisand by their very nature will do so much. I refer, for example, to the activity around the active school flag for which 1,000 primary and post-primary schools have registered. A total of 156 flags have been awarded which shows that there is a rising consciousness on the issue. If the green flag initiative is anything to go by then I have no doubt that this will be just as successful in terms of raising awareness. However, there is a role for parents as well, and for community and teacher involvement.

Technology is one way of raising that kind of awareness. Deputy O’Donovan referred to the post-Christmas rush to purchase new gear and to get exercise. We all have post-Christmas guilt. I down-loaded two applications, apps, one called “Run Keeper” and the other “Map my Fitness”. Such apps will help to modify people’s behaviour.

I accept the Deputy’s point but I firmly believe there is a stronger role for parents, and we speak a little to common sense. I am happy to talk to the Deputy again on the matter to see whether we can progress the issue in the wider context of reducing the level of obesity. There must be a role for the Parliament through the committee system or intra-parliamentary group to examine the issue. That could be one way of seeking to tackle the issue.