Seanad debates

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Childhood Obesity: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Colm BurkeColm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming forward on this matter. It is a major challenge in this State. The former Senator Eamonn Coghlan, who has a lot of experience around physical activity, always raised the issue of physical activity in schools. We have much work to do in the area of physical activity for children. People have better energy levels, improved self-esteem and mood when they engage in physical activity. We have a major challenge where we have the whole knock-on effect of overweight people and obesity. Four in five children in Ireland are not meeting the guidelines for physical activity. In Northern Ireland, it is three in four children. People slip into situations where they do not have enough physical activity. A survey has shown that the average amount of time that pre-school children spend watching television daily is 2.2 hours.

Some of the issues have changed. Consider, for example, the simple activity of getting to school. In 1981, some 50% of children walked to school. I know there are risks associated with children walking to school but when they do not walk to school, the activity is removed. By 2014, walking to school was done by only 25% of children. This is a change and we have not made up for that in relation to physical activity. Eamonn Coghlan had strong views around how we can change this within schools. Once children see their classmates involved in an activity, they too want to become involved. This is something we could keep in mind.

On obesity and children who are overweight, I was speaking to a medical practitioner who gave a talk to GPs. The issue was raised about how GPs discuss it with parents. GPs said that they would not bring up the issue of their child's weight with parents. One GP gave the example that when he did bring it up with a mother, she left the practice altogether, along with her husband and children just because the GP raised the issue of her child's weight. We need to be careful how it is approached. For example, 54% of parents who had an overweight child were not aware that their child was overweight. Some 20% of parents with an obese child were not aware that their child was obese. There is a huge learning process to go through and we need to work on it.

Moving on from schools and parents, sometimes questions need to be asked about the food we provide in our hospitals and the services in our health care sector and if the food is meeting the criteria for healthy living. People in many hospitals are getting very proactive in rolling out meals. Hospitals have been asked why they serve chips and they reply that this is what the patients want. What the patients want may not necessarily be for the benefit or in the best interest of the patient. In fairness, hospitals are beginning to look at this issue. It is about giving new ideas to people when they are away from home and to show them there is a healthier way of living and it is about food. There is also a need for the issue to be very carefully managed when it comes to children in hospital. Careful management is also needed around what is offered in vending machines in schools, or in any facility, and whether it is healthy eating. Some schools have been very proactive about withdrawing vending machines.This is despite the fact that they were good income earners for schools. We have a lot of work to do and there are many areas to tackle through our education and health systems. We have to involve medical practitioners, community nurses and many other people in a programme to tackle childhood obesity.

In my constituency, Cork North-Central, where income levels are not very high, there is a proactive programme which involves parents. In one family, the first two children are into crisps and fizzy drinks but the parents got involved in an education programme and realised there was a better way of looking after their children. As a result, the third child is focused on eating fruit and other good food and this has made a huge difference to the parents. I sometimes wonder if our education system leaves out areas related to living and lifestyle. The youngballymun project and the Knocknaheeny project in Cork have made huge progress with parents in healthy eating and in living better and longer lives. The benefits of eating healthily go to parents as well as their children and it is important that we focus on all these areas.

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