Eamonn Coghlan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I know that the issue of obesity has been in the news. My colleague, Senator Noone, referred to it yesterday when she called for the allocation of 30 minutes each day for physical education in schools. There is more attention in the media and in the public domain on obesity, overweight and physical literacy but nobody seems to know how to do it nor if there is the political will to change the situation.

Since I introduced my initiative, Points for Life - Developing Physical Literacy in Children, in this House almost three years ago, the amount of time devoted to physical activity in schools has not changed. The primary school curriculum is already over-stretched. Believe me, it has been most difficult and frustrating trying to effect change. I have persevered and will continue to do so. The Points for Life initiative, which has been piloted in a number of schools, is about improving physical literacy. This is defined as the foundation of characteristics, attributes, behaviour, skills, awareness and knowledge and understanding related to healthy active living and the promotion of physical recreation opportunities and positive healthy choices. The project, which has been managed by the professional development services for teachers, seeks to increase the frequency of opportunities for children to engage in physical activity and by targeting this critical stage of childhood development, where the seeds of life long practice are laid, the goal is to promote physical fitness, good health and healthy lifestyle practices across the lifespan. The mid-term report which was produced by PEPAYS, the Physical Education Physical Activity and Youth Sports, team headed up by Dr. Ann McPhail from the University of Limerick was quite alarming. It underlines what we already know, the fundamental movement skills, gross motor skills and physical fitness among children are alarming. Some 45% of the children tested in descriptive rating are poor,-----