Schools need to implement healthy eating policies

Fine Gael Senator Deirdre Clune would like to join the The Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute in calling on the Department of Health to develop a national strategy for childhood obesity prevention. She has written many times to the minister on this specific issue.

A key recommendation from the group is for the retail sector to withdraw their vending machines from schools, this is a measure I whole heartedly agree with and something I have lobbied the Department of Health for personally.

There are tuck shops and vending machines in most schools across the country. These are filled with sweet treats, crisps and other highly fattening food. We can monitor what our children eat at home but not while they are at school where they could be consuming unhealthy foods.

It is my view that schools should be implementing a water only policy to curb the amount of sugary and fattening drinks being drunk every day by children, schools need to be persuaded to implement healthy eating and drinking policies in order to ensure that bad habits are caught early and childhood obesity is reduced.

Worryingly, the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute stated that there are only three obesity programmes for children in Ireland and that 73% of the country does not have access to such prevention courses.

I am extremely worried that obesity and people being overweight costs the country over €1.1 billion per year, according to a recent UCC study.

Approximately one in four or 30,000 primary school children are either overweight or obese, this figure is shockingly high and needs to be reduced urgently.

A high level political will and a commitment from the whole government is essential to make progress on this issue.

I will be continuing to apply pressure on the Minister for Health to implement these initiatives.