Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and thank him for spending so much time here this afternoon to discuss this very important issue. It has been described as a crisis and one of the major health issues of our time which consumes a lot of the resources available to the health services. The figures which have been referred to are startling. I recently spoke to a primary school teacher who teaches fourth class. As part of her efforts to improve English and creativity she got the children to design a menu for an evening meal. It produced some startling results. The children who came from the lower income categories had a totally different type of menu for an evening meal than those from higher income groups. It is an area we have to address.

The Irish Heart Foundation recently published some research into food provision in the country's second level school that shows there is a very high availability of unhealthy foods. Foods high in fat, sugar and salt were available in more than half of the 39 schools that took part in the survey and around 40% of the schools did not make water available free of charge. While 37% provided full hot meals, over 70% provided snacks that included sausage rolls, pizza slices and panini, foods which are high in fat and salt. Some 25% of schools still have tuck shops and 47% have vending machines. We need to have some discussions with the Minister for Education and Skills on how the provision of healthy food in schools can be addressed.

Many contributions have referred to information, labelling and how we tackle the food companies which are making some of this food very attractive and selling it at a very low price. We need to get information on food and nutrition and how to prepare good nutritious meals on limited budgets across to parents. There is great respect for celebrities in this country. We have a lot of very fine chefs. We should spend some of our resources on producing programmes for television or online media on how to tackle obesity and prepare nutritious meals at a reasonable cost. Many people feel if they spend money on fast food that it is cheaper, but if parents had the wherewithal to cook food they would be surprised at the savings which could be made. We need to sell the message.

There is an increasing awareness in the country of the need for more physical activity. It is fantastic to see many people cycling and walking, but we need to significantly increase those numbers. I refer to the bike to work scheme, whereby some tax relief was given to people who bought a bike with a view to cycling to work. We should consider the possibility of reducing the level of tax on bicycles for children so as to encourage them to cycle and get more exercise. That could be done at a fairly reasonable cost to the Exchequer, but would have long-term and far-reaching benefit.

We distribute a large amount of grants on a very regular basis to all communities the length and breadth of the country. I would like to see those grants linked in some way to the level of usage by young people of sporting and recreational facilities. I would make it mandatory that programmes are geared towards ensuring young people get a minimum level of exercise per week. We would all love to see schools doing more in terms of recreation and exercise, but it is a major challenge for many schools, some of which do not have the facilities. The school day is crammed with other academic activities and it is difficult to make time for other things.

The onus should be on communities to play their part. We have a major problem on our hands, but the Minister is heading in the right direction. I would like to see action on the various reports that are now becoming available. We should soon put an end to the consultation process and start to put in place measures that will tackle this problem for once and for all and make a serious impact on the level of obesity and ill health that is emerging in our population which will have major implications for our health budget in the future.