Results 8,721-8,740 of 10,837 for speaker:Anne Rabbitte

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: Weighing. We have to be able to measure children. What is the view of the Department in that regard? We have met primary and post-primary teachers and they all have a particular view on weighing children at school. I have asked the same question of everybody. I would like to know the Department's view on measuring children. I am not only referring to weight, but to height and everything...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: It has not been explored?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: I thank Dr. Brooks and Ms O'Flaherty for their replies. There are 4,500 crèches registered for the ECCE scheme and €1 million is spent on capital funding for outdoor spaces, which works out at €222 per facility. I know that is not how the money is divided but €1 million is not nearly enough. Capacity is an issue and outdoor spaces are being used to increase...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: That is very welcome. If Ms O'Flaherty does not mind, I will follow up with her on that particular point. Would every first and second class in the country have participated, was it a snap view or how many schools were involved?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: If Ms O'Flaherty does not mind.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: Does Ms O'Flaherty see where I would love to see it in the early childhood setting, and if the Department were to do it again at the seven-year mark and again later on, the Department would be gathering the data? Ms O'Flaherty herself knows that it is in later years that we will reap the rewards.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: And keep it as normal as possible.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: The norm I talk about is the setting. The other representatives we had in, for example, from the various teaching unions, stated they felt the stigmatisation, the bullying aspect and all of that. I believe that if the normalisation starts at the early intervention years, it is just normal. It is part of the data. It is the collection of it. It is no different. We are one of the few...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: Is that every week of the 38 weeks in the year or is it diluted by being part of the SPHE and CPHE so that it works out being for a quarter of the year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: How is recruitment and retention of PE teachers? Is there a shortage at present?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: There was reference to sports halls and the witnesses spoke eloquently about the €8.4 billion under the NDP. If we were to link on from the early years, primary and post-primary, many of the schools on the western seaboard do not have gym facilities that we talk about. I talk about the leaking roof in my school in Portumna, but it is classroom spaces we are supposed to be talking...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: How much funding is left aside every year for older schools that need to make refurbishments solely in sports halls or outdoor space areas? Up the road from me, Tynagh national school had lumps of stone in its field, as in its safe play area, and it could not get it included under the minor works scheme. I am trying to figure out where physical activity and safety are balanced against...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: The latter half of the NDP is 2027.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: We will have lost a complete cycle of children before we ever start.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: I second that proposal.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: I am from Galway and I regularly hear about this issue. Deputy Neville is from Limerick and the Acting Chair, Senator Noone, is from Mayo. This is happening across the board.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: I have a question on the vending machines for the Department of Education and Skills. Representatives of secondary schools and parents have told the committee that some schools are using vending machines to supplement income and it was an income stream for them. I was shocked and the Acting Chairman will bear me out. The witnesses have spoken about policy and everything else. Vending...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: And hospitals - everywhere. We should start with schools because officials from the Department of Education and Skills are present. We cannot write policy such as the White Paper and not be real about it. Schools see it as an income stream they cannot lose. We are talking about children's health and that message needs to be relayed from the top down. The children are not in control and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: I thoroughly agree with every word Ms O'Flaherty has said. However, I was shocked that it was seen as an income stream on the back of children's health. We know that even if it is a 60:40 spread, the 40% will sell very fast and be replenished fairly quickly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Tackling Childhood Obesity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Anne Rabbitte: I agree it is not good enough, particularly when it is treated as an income stream. That was said here by a member of the boards of management delegation or a representative of the union. I cannot remember exactly the group.