Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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673. To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline the Government's obesity strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36134/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Arising out of the Irish Presidency Informal meeting of EU Health Ministers in March, at which Childhood Obesity was a major theme, the EU Commissioner supported the Irish request to mandate the EU High Level Group on Nutrition and Physical Activity to draw up an Action Plan to address Childhood Obesity. All Ministers attending the Informal meeting agreed that childhood obesity is a priority issue on the health agenda in Member States and that it needs to be addressed in an EU wide context. It is proposed that the EU Childhood Obesity Action Plan will be launched in 2014 and will be evaluated at the end of 2020.

As Minister for Health, I have made overweight and obesity a public health priority and have established a Special Action Group on Obesity (SAGO) with whom I meet regularly to progress the obesity agenda. The Special Action Group on Obesity comprises key stakeholders and is chaired by my Department. The range of measures being implemented by my Department seek to promote a healthy lifestyle, to encourage people to make healthier food choices, to become more active and take the first steps towards reducing obesity.

SAGO is working on a combination of priority actions which, taken together, should make a difference in the long term. These measures include: Calorie posting in restaurants; Healthy Eating Guidelines; Marketing of Food and Drink to Children; Treatment Algorithms; Opportunistic Screening and Monitoring for overweight and obesity and Vending Machines in Schools. SAGO is also currently looking at ways to promote healthy eating, in accordance with this Department's Healthy Eating Guidelines.

Healthy Ireland, a Framework for Improved Health and Well-being, forms the basis of how a whole-of-government and whole of society approach to health and well-being will be delivered. It sets out 64 actions under a number of thematic areas which provide for the development of inter-sectoral and cross government plans to address risk factors and social determinants of health. It provides a structured mechanism to engage all different sectors of society to channel measures and actions around individual health and lifestyle issues, and to measure, monitor and evaluate implementation. Healthy Ireland describes supportive mechanisms to ensure effective co-operation between the health sector and other areas of Government and public services concerned with social protection, children, industry, food safety, education, transport, housing, agriculture and the environment. The implementation of Healthy Ireland is now focused on the development of an outcomes framework and a physical activity plan. In this regard the Health and Well-being Programme in the Department of Health will work closely with relevant policy divisions in the Department of Health and with existing cross-government and cross-sectoral groups, such as SAGO.