Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the sugar tax, which I welcome, it is my understanding that the approximately €50 million per annum which it is estimated will be generated from this tax will not be ring-fenced, which I do not understand. As I have stated on numerous occasions, one in four Irish children and one in three adults are now deemed to be either overweight or obese. I do not propose to repeat the statistics which I have regularly offered the House in this regard. The Lancetstudy of 2010 found that the incidence of diabetes has also significantly increased. I had a briefing on the issue last week and I thank the Members who attended. I intend to provide pre-diabetes testing in January on an appointment basis so that people do not have to wait lengthy periods on the day for a test. There was a lot of interest in the previous round of testing. I have the permission of the Superintendent to hold another round of testing in the medical room in January.

On the last occasion, we heard presentations from Dr. Grace O'Malley from Temple Street hospital and Dr. Heneghan, a bariatric surgeon from St. Vincent's Hospital who also works in the obesity department in St. Columcille's Hospital. It was apparent to me from those presentations that we are not treating obesity like the disease it is. There is no other disease treated in this country in the manner in which obesity is treated. Notwithstanding that it is a preventible disease in many instances, once people have it, it is nonetheless a disease and there is no direct treatment programme for it across the health services. Senator Norris has referred to obesity as "fatness".