Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the second or third PR stunt by the Minister for Health, Deputy Leo Varadkar. On 5 February he announced that the Cabinet had approved proposals to require restaurants, takeaway establishments and all food service outlets to post calorie details of all meals on menus alongside the price point where food was ordered. In his press release the Minister stated he was very concerned about the level of obesity in Ireland. He said the latest figures indicated that two out of every three adults and one in four children were overweight or obese. Michelin star chef Derry Clarke said he was completely against the move which was beyond ridiculous. If one wants people to lose weight, sofas, televisions and laptops should be taxed. It is not all about calories; it is about moving. The Government's plan to introduce calorie counts on restaurant menus is a complete farce. It does not take the reality of the restaurant industry into account and will cause huge damage to restaurants, especially the smaller independent establishments for which Ireland has gained a reputation for quality during the years. I understand completely that McDonald's and KFC have the same menus day in and day out and, as such, could cope with the plan to fix menu items. However, many restaurants with creativity and innovation have a pinch of this and a dash of that and change their menu items such that calorie counts are not consistent. These restaurants are extremely busy and run on shoe-string budgets. They cannot afford to have dedicated staff members to calculate calorie counts. I hate to have to say many of our chefs are leaving the country because of the pressure on restaurants by rates and expensive overheads. It is a gift from God to be a brilliant chef, as well as requiring an education. Many of our chefs, including chefs from England and France, are moving abroad, while there are people from abroad coming to this country who are not trained as chefs. They are taking up positions and it is very sad that our own are leaving.

I will be tracking the Minister because he has also abdicated his responsibility for the extension of BreastCheck. It is a farce what he is at in that regard, pretending, as announced on 17 October, that it was going to happen. Reading the small print, if we see it, it will be at the end of 2015.