Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her views on the challenge by schools (details supplied) in County Wicklow to the locating of a fast-food restaurant close to their premises on public health grounds, and the progress in implementing the Framework for Improved Health and Wellbeing 2013 to 2025. [44118/15]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister for her views on the challenge by a school in Greystones, County Wicklow, to the location of a McDonald's restaurant close to its premises on public health grounds, and for an update on progress in implementing the framework for improved health and well-being by her Department.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The manner in which the challenge was taken in this case is a matter for the schools involved. We would like to commend the school on prioritising the health of its students in deciding on school policy in this matter. Schools and the wider education sector have a vital role to play in contributing to the Government's Healthy Ireland agenda set out in the framework for improved health and well-being for 2013-2025.

Healthy Ireland was published by the Department of Health in 2013, and is one of the most ambitious programmes we have ever seen focused on improving the health of the nation. Healthy Ireland contains a number of goals for the education sector. The Department of Education and Skills is a key partner in the delivery of this agenda, and this work is a personal priority for me and the Minister. Through primary and post-primary education, students are equipped with the key skills and knowledge to enable them to make healthier life choices. Schools' efforts should be complemented by students' families and their community.

Our Department issued guidance to post-primary schools this September on promoting healthy lifestyles, including healthy eating policies. Similar guidance will be provided to primary schools early in 2016. We want to see more active flags in schools, more schools growing their own food, and more schools adopting healthy eating policies. We will continue to engage with the education stakeholders to find ways of achieving these goals.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. The context for this, as I outlined in my question, is a secondary school in Greystones which brought a legal challenge to a planning application for a McDonald's which was to be located less than 100 m from the entrance to the school and would have been the closest food outlet to three schools. As the Minister of State would recognise, this is a national issue rather than being confined to the local matter in Greystones of which we are all aware.

There is a disconnect between what parents and communities want in terms of the appalling health status of our young people, what the Government hopes to achieve through Healthy Ireland, and the reality of what young people are actually eating at school. Ireland is in the throes of an obesity epidemic with as many as one in five teenagers obese or overweight, yet there is currently no national standard to ensure that healthy, tasty and nutritious foods are provided at second level. The guidelines at primary level are also weak. There is no strategy, plan or guideline from the Department of Education and Skills to ensure that schoolchildren are not used as captive consumers for fast food and sugary food outlets. The Greystones saga illustrates this point.

Will the Minister of State agree to set up in interdepartmental group to design planning guidelines for "no-fry zones" close to schools? Will he agree to a ban on vending machines in schools selling sugary products? Will he put a more ambitious plan in place to bolster nutrition inside our schools?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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On vending machines and healthy eating, the Department issued guidance for post-primary schools about measures to promote healthy lifestyles. The guidance was drafted in consultation with the Department of Health and the HSE. It encompasses measures to promote healthy eating, healthy vending, PE and physical activity. We have to allow each school, along with parents and pupils, to come up with its own policies in this area. In conjunction with the Department of Health, we give as good guidance and direction as we can through these initiatives. There is local decision making involved as well.

In respect of planning matters, as the Deputy has said the issue is not limited to Greystones. I have seen a similar situation in my own town of Navan and in many other towns. It is a local planning matter, however, and has to remain as such. Naturally, the Department is constantly watching the issue to see if there is a need to develop guidance on it. It is a planning issue and is dealt with successfully in most cases. Some companies are taking a different attitude now and are not proceeding with planning applications. Hopefully they might learn from that as well. It is important that parents feel they have a role so they can make their own decision locally in conjunction with their school. From what I can see, I am glad to say that most schools are taking a very active role and have dealt with the issue appropriately.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. He and the Minister, as Department of Education and Skills leads, should be more proactive in taking a national policy approach to this, rather than confining the issue to whatever local authorities may decide in each individual area. There is an obesity epidemic and a real challenge in ensuring healthy food options are available to students within the vicinity of schools. There is also the challenge of ensuring that we have healthy food options within schools themselves.

What, if any, plans, does the Department have to improve the situation in schools? Will the Minister of State look again at the need for a national policy approach to ensuring that there is guidance and strong principles laid out as to how food outlet development should be carried out close to schools? One very simple measure which could be taken would be to get rid of vending machines that are selling sugary drinks and food from schools.

The bulk of the food is sold from vending machines in all our schools yet the Department refuses to do away with it and issue a guideline and a requirement that schools not serve that food and replace the vending machines with nutritious food. That is one simple measure the Department has not taken and I get no indication that it is willing to do that. Will the Minister of State reconsider that approach?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The health promoting schools, HPS, initiative is a Europe-wide programme aimed to strengthen a school’s capacity to be a healthy setting for learning and working by focusing on whole-school level and all the conditions that affect health and well-being. As part of the HPS initiative, health promotion officers and members of the well-being pillar of professional health and service for teachers collaborate on a regional basis to ensure schools are supported in meeting the health needs of their students. That is the Department’s role, to provide the supports, guidance and policies. It is not to lecture to every school about what it has to do in every situation. That is not necessarily our role. We try to encourage responsible thinking and development and put the supports in place to do that.

That is a planning matter. That is a local decision. In most of these towns there are premises that serve food of all kinds. It is not a straightforward question of dealing with new applications. In many school settings there are already premises in the vicinity which makes it a little more difficult when it comes to planning. It has worked out properly in most cases. Planning authorities generally do a sound job when it comes to making these decisions. That is their job. It is not the job of the Department of Education and Skills to have a role in the planning matters of every town and village in the country.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is also an issue for local development plans.