Rónán Mullen (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State. I commend my colleague Senator Keogan on bringing forward this important Bill. I thank Senators Wilson, O'Reilly and others for supporting it. I am often struck when I am doing the family shopping of what a long way we still have to go in this country in getting people the information they need about the products they are purchasing. It may have to do with place of origin of certain products. There is huge inconsistency if we compare products in supermarkets and so on and in the dangers of processed foods. It is a knotty problem because even when we consider the social good that is the provision of hot school meals, there are concerns about the nutritional qualities of those. Approximately €120 million is being spent annually at this point on school meals. We all regard that as something good and valuable, yet now we are hearing concerns about whether this is introducing children to junk food who might not otherwise be subjected to it. Could it be something that would do more harm than good?

There is a huge need for us to take an evidence-based approach to these issues as opposed to a simply market-led approach. That is why I say to those who say that this is nanny statism and we should not overregulate in this area that when it comes to child protection, we cannot be too careful. As Senator Keogan outlined, there is a strong case to be made for the restriction of the availability of certain products where there is a significant body of evidence that they are doing harm. There is a time later in adulthood when people are free to make choices in a more informed way hopefully. This is first and foremost a child protection issue and that is a lens through which we should examine this. The amount of sugar and caffeine contained in these drinks is simply dangerous. As has been said, many of them contain very high amounts of caffeine. In some cases, it is between 160 and 200 mg per can. That is double the amount found in an average cup of coffee, which is approximately 80 mg depending on the strength.

I note the review done by a health-related organisation that was highlighted in a letter recently to Victoria Atkins in Britain, who was the health secretary at the time. Official guidance states that people should consume no more 3 mg of caffeine per kilogramme in the body. Despite this, data from the National Drugs Library shows that 30% of adults, 68% of adolescence and 18% of children consume energy drinks. We should examine where countries are going in the EU. The Minister of State will say the Government needs to examine more of this and consider the evidence, etc. It should consider the evidence by all means. Let us have an evidence-based approach but do not take too long over it because this is an important public health issue. It is noteworthy that in the UK many shops of their accord have stopped selling such high energy stimulant drinks of the kind we are discussing. Just two weeks ago, Hungary banned such drinks for children. Poland has done so, and I believe Lithuania as well. The European Parliament's committee of petitions recently decided to maintain a petition on an EU ban. Ireland should do its best to be among the fast movers in this area.

I reflect on comments made recently by the HSE lead for obesity, Dr. Donal O'Shea, a person I admire very much. He has important things to say about a range of areas concerned with public health. He described these energy drinks as very bad for children's health. He noted that they have surged in consumption among young children and teenagers in recent years. In his view, there is good evidence that they are bad for people's ability to concentrate and their attention span and if they have any tendency towards anxiety, they drive that. He says they should simply not be freely available to purchase as they are at the moment. He importantly points out that many parents know very little about these drinks. They are unaware of the extent to which their children are buying them as online trends often dictate.These drinks are promoted heavily by influencers through the likes of Snapchat and Instagram. In some cases parents will not have even heard of them but there will be a craze among teenagers. Dr. O'Shea also warns against the potential excessive influence from vested interests who will make the arguments about the nanny state, job losses, and so on. At the end of the day, it is an evidence-based approach with public health and young people's health as the priority. That must be the driver here.

I commend my colleague, Senator Keogan. I know what the Government is going to do today but let us hope it will not be long before legislation of this kind is on the Statute Book.