Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to briefly mention the issue of obesity, which I have been raising for the past five years. A recent documentary on RTE 1 did the country some service. It was by Dr. Eva Orsmond who has a reputation as a hard-liner on this issue and came to be known through "Operation Transformation" some years ago. Most people who watched the documentary would have found it shocking, although it was no surprise to me.

There was one good suggestion in the documentary. I am often accused of being somewhat like a nanny state in my approach to this issue but it is clear that something must be done. We cannot continue to say "No" to all the small measures that might help this issue. Parents need a hand when it comes to the issue of their children's health. They cannot be totally in control of what their children eat. Everyone tells me that the problem comes back to the parents but we are on track to be the fattest country in Europe in a relatively short period of time. I have stated in this House 100 times that one in four children is overweight or obese. Children are having their teeth removed at a very young age. Imagine them going through life without their primary teeth, which they are losing before the age of ten. It is a frightening issue. I am blue in the face talking about it. I feel as if I am bashing my head against a brick wall.

We have not done enough about this issue.The Government, of which my party is a member, has not done enough about this. We are not taking it seriously enough. The argument was made that a sugar tax on its own would not make a difference. The same argument has been made about various other suggestions but if we do not introduce changes, we will not solve this problem. We cannot continue leaving it up to parents because clearly nothing is being done in the short or longer term by them. Education is very important. One of the documentary's participants is involved in a school in Louth ---