Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and commend him on his ongoing work. It is unusual for a Minister to arrive into the House and not to read from a script. He is obviously very much on top of his brief. I thank him for coming to the House.

For the education system to be truly equal, fair and inclusive, every child must have the opportunity to fulfil his or her potential, regardless of circumstances. We must strive to ensure that every child enjoys the optimum health and well-being in which he or she can thrive personally, socially and academically. Last week's announcement of the DEIS plan 2017, in addition to the action plan are very welcome. The latter centres on using the potential of the education system to break down cycles of disadvantage. As the Minister said, it builds on the experiences of existing DEIS schools and draws on international best practice. It also sets out new targets. In my view, however, as important as academic success is – most of us would take that as a given – the priority must also be on the promotion of health and well-being among children. A child's health has such a huge bearing on his or her performance in school and on how he or she will achieve and turn out in life in general. I commend the fact that the Department of Education and Skills is involved in a number of measures to promote the overall Healthy Ireland agenda that is being led by the Department of Health. It is only with a cross-departmental approach that we will get to the bottom of the problem.

I recently attended some meetings in Amsterdam. The Dutch had a problem with childhood obesity as well but the incidence is one in eight and it is moving towards one in ten now, whereas the incidence here is one in four, which indicates a much greater problem here. We are doing a report for the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and I would be happy to send that on to the Minister when it is available if he considers it helpful.

The work that is being done by the Department of Health feeds directly into the work relating to student well-being and mental health. The Department of Education and Skills is co-operating with the Department of Health on specific areas relating to the Healthy Ireland initiative. There are three parts to the initiative. There is the special advisory group on obesity, SAGO; the actions under the sexual health strategy and; and actions under the national physical activity plan.

I have long been a strong vocal advocate for the urgent necessity to tackle the scourge of childhood obesity. That needs to be done at a very young age. Could the Minister clarify whether objective 1.1 in the report to which I referred, which relates to wellness subjects is intended for primary schools or secondary schools? I get the impression that there is an opportunity to make submissions and that it has not yet been decided how the subject will be ultimately decided. I feel strongly that children in primary schools must be educated as to what is healthy so that they know good food is fuel and if one eats well one will be healthier and therefore perform better at school and in sporting activities. A subject such as well-being in schools should encompass awareness about sugar and alcohol. I will come to some related issues shortly.

Currently, one in Irish four children is considered to be overweight and obese. In fact, we are on target to be the most obese nation in the world by 2030. I have also highlighted the fact that Irish children are consuming far too much sugar. We hear a great deal about that. It is the opposite to where we were 20 or 25 years ago when fat was the enemy. When fat was considered to be the enemy it was taken out of food which was then pumped with sugar and salt. We need to be careful about the extreme hate agendas which go against certain foods.

I wish to highlight the gap that was recently exposed in a recent report which indicated that fourth year male students are 41% fitter than their female counterparts. I do not think that is acceptable. That is due to all sorts of reasons, including academic ones. I would be interested to hear a comment from the Minister in that regard.

In my view, tackling obesity must encompass both diet and exercise. We must target children at a very young age. In more deprived areas or where parents are not as aware of nutrition as they should be we could target parents through children. I have so much to say to the Minister but I am aware that I am under time pressure. I will conclude.

I did some work last week on synthetic drugs in particular, which is a growing problem. In 2015 a total of 50 deaths were attributed to synthetic drugs, for example, U4. Even people who deal with drugs find it very difficult to get their heads around them. With cocaine, heroin and other such drugs at least there is an appreciation of what they are dealing with, whereas synthetic drugs are being bought on the Internet and sourced in other ways.

Thank you for your indulgence, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, I will finish on this point. We should improve awareness of drugs as part of a well-being subject where we cover issues such as healthy eating with a positive focus. We could invite speakers to schools who have had a negative experience with drugs or alcohol so that we can teach children early. They will make decisions as they go through life but we should arm them with the requisite information as early as possible. I am grateful for the indulgence of the House as I spoke for longer than intended.