A task force to stop Irish people getting fatter will be established early in 2004. The strategy group is being set up following the increase in obesity levels over the past four years.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said there was a need to respond rapidly to "halt and reverse" the expanding obesity trend in Irish society.
As preparations get under way for the task force, which will comprise "key stakeholders", the National Health Promotion Strategy is targeting primary schools. Food and nutrition guidelines for schools will be published early next year with the aim of educating schoolchildren on nutrition, to encourage them to make healthy food choices throughout life.
The task force will have as its guideline the dramatic surge in obesity levels, illustrated earlier this year in the Slán survey. This showed that obesity levels had risen from 11 per cent of the adult male population in 1998 to 14 per cent last year, while the figure for women increased from 9 per cent to 12 per cent of the population.
The survey also showed a major fall in activity levels by both men and women. The number of women who said they did no physical exercise at all increased from 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the population. The corresponding figure for men rose by 9 per cent to 30 per cent in the same four years.
Mr Martin said the multidisciplinary task force would plan and implement a strategy with the aim of halting any further increase in obesity levels.
The former inner-city primary school principal and Independent TD for Dublin North Central, Mr Finian McGrath, had asked in a Dáil question what the Minister intended to do about obesity.
Outlining the Government's current actions, Mr Martin pointed out that there were now an additional 36 community dietitians in place who had formed partnerships with community groups.
Most health boards had been resourced to run "specific, targeted, focused, sustained programmes aimed in particular at those on low incomes".
Physical activity co-ordinators had been appointed to health boards as well to promote physical activity among the population, said the Minister, who pointed to the links between obesity and the increased incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancers.
