Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A significant gender gap in the fitness levels of teenagers has been revealed in the results of a report that has been published on foot of the Irish Life Health schools fitness challenge, which was carried out in Irish schools last year. The most concerning aspect of the researchers' findings is that the gender gap widens as teenagers make the transition through secondary school. In first year, boys are 32% fitter than girls, but this increases to 41% in fourth year and so the trend continues.

The researchers found that a significant proportion of girls drop out of sport for social and academic reasons as they make the transition through education. These findings are unsettling from the perspective of childhood health and obesity, which is an issue on which I regularly work. When adolescent girls fall into unhealthy lifestyles at a young age, it becomes increasingly difficult to reverse that pattern in later life. Girls should be encouraged at home and in school to continue to play sports throughout their years in education. If they are not aware of the long-term benefits of sporting activity, they need to be informed of them.

Playing sports can be particularly beneficial for physical and mental health, especially when the pressures of the leaving certificate, etc., start to manifest themselves. I believe we are struggling to deal with this issue in general. I have called on numerous occasions for a debate in the House on childhood obesity. I hope we can have such a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, in the near future. We could discuss many matters that come under this heading. The stark findings of the report I have mentioned represent one such matter. I would welcome an opportunity to debate them with the Minister of State.