Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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749. To ask the Minister for Health the progress that has been made on the action in the Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan 2021-2025 to progress implementation of the commitment to use planning to address the obesogenic environment; the plans that are in place for 2022 for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9357/22]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan 2021-2025 was published in May 2021 by Minister Stephen Donnelly and myself, following an extensive stakeholder consultation process. The Healthy Ireland Strategic Action Plan builds on the success of the Healthy Ireland Framework, which was published in 2013. The Action Plan contains 56 strategic actions across six themes which will be implemented over the lifetime of the plan. It takes a "whole of government" and "whole of society" approach, and each action has a lead government department from across fourteen separate government departments.

One of the strategic actions under Theme 2, "Partnerships and Cross-Sectoral Work", is to "Engage and collaborate with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to align policy and initiatives with Healthy Ireland policy". The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) is represented on both the Obesity Policy Implementation Oversight Group and the National Physical Activity Plan Implementation Group (NPAP IG). The Department of Health also collaborates with DHLGH in other fora, such as the Town Centre First interdepartmental advisory group.

An Implementation Action under the strategic action referred to above is "Implementation of the commitment to use planning to address the obesogenic environment". Due to other priorities, progress has not been made in this area since the publication of the Strategic Action Plan. In 2022, the Department will work with the lead Department, DHLGH, and other stakeholders to progress work in this complex area.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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750. To ask the Minister for Health the current members of the Obesity Policy Implementation Oversight Group; the person that currently chairs the group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9358/22]

Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Obesity Policy Implementation Oversight Group (OPIOG) was set up under the Obesity Policy and Action Plan, published in 2016. The OPIOG is currently chaired by the Principal Officer of the Health and Wellbeing Programme in the Department of Health and also includes representatives from the following organisations:

- Department of Health

- Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

- Department of Social Protection

- Department of Education

- Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

- Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

- Health Service Executive

- safefood

- Food Safety Authority of Ireland

- University College Cork