Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to those condemning the treatment of our President. The anger can be easily understood but the actions not. Likewise, I know my colleague, Deputy Mulherin, to be a hard-working and decent person. I am appalled at the treatment she has received. We are heading down a very dangerous road in Irish politics if we are going to see this on a weekly basis.

I wholeheartedly agree with Senator Coghlan. He has raised an issue which I had intended to raise. It relates to the issue of where certain activity had been banned in schools previously. I had called for that to be reviewed. I was glad to see Seán Cottrell raise the issue of two hours of PE being mandatory in schools. There is no question but that obesity is on a dangerously fast rise in Ireland. I have concerns about young people becoming increasingly overweight and obese. As Senator Coghlan said, this is not just about obesity. It is about the health of the nation at large. Two hours of compulsory PE was also suggested by the Irish Heart Foundation and the Federation of Irish Sport last October. Prior to this, I had suggested half an hour of PE a day, 2.5 hours or slightly more per week, to be made mandatory. About that time, a SafeFood Ireland survey showed 90% of parents believed 30 minutes of school time should be devoted to PE every day. We are at the bottom of the EU league in terms of time spent on PE in our schools, with Irish children getting just over half the EU average of 109 minutes of physical education. By making a half hour of daily exercise mandatory in the school timetable, we can move to the top of the table.