merrion street

Good Morning and welcome to the launch of the report ‘Overweight and Obesity among 9-Year-Old Children in Ireland’ which is the latest publication from ‘

- the National Longitudinal Study of Children.

I am delighted to be here this morning in my capacity as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, a newly-created Government Department.

I think you will agree that the decision to establish the Department of Children and Youth Affairs marks an important value statement.

With over 1.1 million children and young people in Ireland this decision demonstrates the vision of government to ensure that growing up in Ireland means that you have the best start in life available anywhere in the world.

This is no small task; and it is a task which falls to us all; to all of society: to parents, to the community, to policy-makers, to government.

But as with any task or challenge, the first step is understanding.

We need to understand our children: their lives, their experiences, their expectations and I am delighted that this is one area where we, in Ireland, are world-leaders.

The type of research being conducted by my Department’s Research Unit and by other institutions such as the ESRI and Trinity College Dublin; is providing us with a wealth of valuable data.

And as I’ve often stated, the jewel in the crown of this research is undoubtedly our National Longitudinal Study of Children -

It worth taking a moment to remind ourselves what this is all about. 

is following the development of almost 20,000 children in Ireland across two cohorts: an infant cohort recruited at age nine-months; and a child cohort recruited at age nine years; and since 2006, when the first phase of the study commenced, significant progress has been made: 

• The first waves of data collection have been completed;
• The first set of reports have been published;
• The second wave of data collection for the infant cohort, which was carried out when the infants reached their third birthday, is also completed; and
• The second wave of data collection for the child cohort is now underway.

This means that, later this year, at the third Annual Growing Up in Ireland Research Conference on 1

December, I will be launching the first longitudinal findings to emerge from this Study. 

These findings will be so beneficial as it will allow us to see how the lives of children in Ireland have changed over time and to give us a better understanding of the importance of early experiences on outcomes later in life. 

But back to today and the focus of this morning – childhood overweight and obesity

I ask you to jump forward 10, 20 years.

Where do we want our country to be?

What do we hope for our nation?

Our younger generations are our future so ensuring their good health is in our vital national interest. But unfortunately too much recent research on children’s public health, including that which we are publishing today, point to an appalling vista.

As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I am gravely concerned with some of the findings to emerge from today’s report.

• 26% of nine year old children were found to have a body mass index that was outside of the ‘healthy’ range. Of these, 19% were defined as overweight and 7% obese. 
• Girls were significantly more likely to be overweight than boys: 22% versus 19%; or obese: 8% versus 5%. 
• Children from lower socio-economic households are more likely to be overweight or obese.
• Both parents and children were poor at recognising child overweight and obesity: 54% of parents of overweight children and 20% of parents of obese children report that their child is ‘about the right weight’ for their height while 78% of children measured as overweight perceived themselves to be ‘about the right weight’.
• Children who exercised infrequently (less than three days in the last fortnight) were about three times more likely to be overweight or obese than those who exercised on a regular basis (greater than nine days in the last fortnight).
• Boys watching TV for 3+ hours on an average school night were  4.2 times more likely to be obese than boys watching less than an hour of TV on average. Girls watching 3+ hours of TV were 1.75 times more likely to be obese.

These findings pose a significant challenge.

The rise in childhood overweight and obesity is very worrying; in particular as it is associated with both immediate and long-term health risks.

Obesity in childhood is associated with a higher prevalence of asthma, eczema and type two diabetes. It is also associated with depression and depressive symptoms and links have also been made to under achievement in school and self-esteem.

Worryingly, obese children are significantly more likely to become obese adults.

Obesity in adulthood is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and some forms of cancer. Indeed, health problems relating to obesity substantially add to health service costs in the longer term.

Put simply, if we allow current trends relating to

to continue, then we are condemning our younger generations to a future of ill health

Obesity is clearly a health problem and, for this reason, I am delighted to be joined this morning by my colleague Minister for Health, Dr. James Reilly T.D.

The government has prioritised action on obesity but this will require a multi-faceted, cross-departmental repose. Minister Reilly’s presence here with me this morning is a clear indication of this government’s commitment to delivering on this need for a collaborative approach.

Minister Reilly will share with you some of the actions, which have been prioritised by his Department and in particular, will highlight the work of the recently established Special Action Group on Obesity at the Department of Health, which includes a range of relevant stakeholders, including an Official my own Department.

As part of the whole-of-government response to obesity my own Department has also prioritised action on obesity and the findings from this report signals where we need to continue focussing our efforts.

This report has highlighted not surprisingly, how, low levels of physical exercise and high levels of sedentary activities are both associated with a higher risk of overweight and obesity. 

Just last month, I launched qualitative research, also from the ‘Growing-Up in Ireland’ study, which highlighted the concerns of children in all areas, urban and rural, over the lack of places to play while also highlighting, like today’s report, the predominance of indoor activities such as gaming, internet and TV in children's lives

We should never underestimate the importance of recreation in children’s lives

My Department has a key leadership role to play in this area through overseeing the on-going implementation of the national play and recreation polices; and over the past few years, my Department has made significant investments in play and recreational facilities and I hope to build on this.

I wish to commend our local authorities and in particular their play and recreation officers for their efforts to promote recreational activity and develop facilities in communities right across the state

As part of this ongoing commitment, I am establishing a nationwide

to bring together local authority play and recreation officers and their expertise for the purposes of advising on further developments and innovations in the provision of play and recreation facilities and to help promote the wider benefits of participation in sporting and cultural activities among local communities.  The inaugural meeting of the Network will be held shortly.

Today’s report also highlighted the significant gender differences in physical activity levels, with girls being less physically active than boys.

I am eager to address this physical activity gender imbalance and in this context, I see a need to do further work with both national sporting organisations and local sports clubs and recreational programmes on the objective of increasing participation of young females in sports and exercise.

This, together with already established initiatives such as the ‘Little Steps’ Campaign, the ‘Get Ireland Active’ website and the ‘Active School Flag Campaign’ will hopefully go some way to address these worrying findings.

Today’s report also demonstrates that the

in which children grow and develop influences the opportunities for play and physical activity levels.

I believe we need to look seriously at how we plan and provide for healthy and active communities. We should never underestimate the massive impact of providing something as simple as a signalised crossing on a busy road close to a school or sports club or other community facility. Where safe routes exist, parents can have the confidence to allow their children to walk or cycle more regularly.

Indeed, the Government has already shown clear commitment to on-going efforts in this area with the announcement in the recent Jobs Initiative that an additional €15m is being allocated to smarter travel projects including pedestrian crossings, footpaths and cycle paths.

But we also see from the report how levels of dietary quality vary significantly across gender and between socio-economic groups and how the availability of food in the local area may have a significant association with the quality of children’s diets

It is for this reason, I believe we need to look at regulating the proliferation of fast-food outlets.

As a result of new policy provisions introduced by the UK Government, local authorities in the UK have begun restricting the opening of new takeaways within 400m of any school, youth club or park. I note there is no such similar national provision in the Irish planning framework.

I have raised this matter with my government colleague the Minister of State for Planning Willie Penrose TD and my department is on ongoing discussions with the Department of Environment, Communities and Local Government, who I understand are now giving active consideration to including policies on promoting healthier and more child-friendly communities, including regulating the proliferation of fast-food outlets, as part of new national planning guidance to be published next year.

The immediate and long-term effects of overweight and obesity both for the individual and society are clear.

To address the rising levels of obesity, we require a better understanding of the factors that lead to childhood obesity.

The data available in the Growing Up in Ireland provide an important source of information to improve our understanding of this issue.

For this reason, I welcome this report and I look forward to discussing and using the findings to advance policy in this area.

I would like to conclude by thanking and congratulating the authors of this report, Professor Richard Layte and Dr. Cathal McCrory along with the team of researchers who carried out this Study.

I would also like to thank Officials in my Department and the Central Statistics Office for their role in managing this Study.

Most importantly I would like to acknowledge the commitment and contribution of the parents and children who have all generously given their time to participate in this phase of Growing Up in Ireland. Without the time, experience and insight they have given, the Growing Up in Ireland study would not be possible.

The investment in Growing Up in Ireland is significant. Data from this Study is available through the Irish Social Science Data Archive and the Irish Qualitative Data Archive. It is a tremendous resource and I encourage you all to avail of the opportunity to use this data as part of your work. Indeed, the use of this data is crucial if the investment made into Growing Up in Ireland is to be fully realised. 

Thank you.