Fine Gael Dun Laoghaire TD, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has said the new Child and Family Agency, which was launched by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD, and the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald TD today (Thursday), will help to ensure the failings of the past do not reoccur.

“The establishment of the new Child and Family Agency is a progressive step forward towards ensuring the protection, safety and rights of children. Our previously fragmented child protection services will be unified in this new single body, ensuring more cohesive and effective care.

“The Louise O’Keefe case is just the latest in a long legacy of failings of the State and its institutions. While we cannot presume it is possible to prevent every case of child abuse, we can ensure our systems are working better, intervening earlier and responding quicker to issues of concern as they arise.

“The new Agency will allow for the seamless integration of policy and service delivery, rather than the fragmented system of the past. Child protection services will be taken away from the overburdened health service, and for the first time education welfare and family support services will be brought together with child protection and welfare.

“The harsh reality is that child and family welfare was not treated as a priority in Ireland in the past. Now it will be the sole focus of a single Government agency. The establishment of the Child and Family Agency, together with a range of other legislative changes, means that child protection is something that we all have a responsibility for; it’s not something that we can simply devolve to professionals.

“Children and families in difficulty deserve a second chance. The new Agency will help to ensure that no child is overlooked, and will ensure we respond more quickly when families are in trouble, so a crisis can be avoided. For the first time, child and family social workers, family support workers and education welfare officers will all work together on the same team to protect children and support families. This will help prevent children from falling through gaps in services, as happened too many times in the past.

“The agency will be known as TUSLA, which comes from the Irish for new day, or new dawn. The name aptly reflects the new beginning this Agency represents. The establishment of the Agency is a huge undertaking; it will have over 4,000 staff and a budget of more than €600 million. Minister Fitzgerald deserves to be commended for her work in delivering this major reform in how we care for vulnerable children.”

The Department of Finance, in association with the Trinity Economic Forum, is pleased to announce a new economic policy competition open to all third level students in Ireland.
 
The competition will support active citizens eager to play their part in crafting the Ireland in which they wish to live and work, by giving them the opportunity to propose their own unique policy idea. The competition will allow third level students to submit their policy proposition, based on sound economic analysis, with the winner of the competition being offered a summer internship within the Department.
 
‘The Department of Finance Award for Economic Policy Advancement’ competition is open to all students across all third level institutions in Ireland. The competition will involve submitting a 150-word summary with a supporting 1500 word submission on one of two policy questions.
 

• Ireland has emerged from the EU-IMF programme with a legacy of both high household and public debt. Bearing in mind the implications of elevated public and private indebtedness, what strategies can be deployed to encourage economic growth in Ireland?

• The labour market response to the financial crisis has been particularly pronounced in Ireland relative to elsewhere in Europe. Taking into account the existing policy measures available, what strategy would you propose to reduce the current rate of unemployment to a more normal level?

 
The competition will be run in conjunction with the Trinity Economic Forum (TEF) and will accept submissions from February 17^th until March 14^th 2014. The forum is a two-day student forum, held in Trinity and sponsored by PwC. It brings together students from all third-level institutions in Ireland to participate in interactive discussions with high-calibre speakers. In 2014, the forum will welcome Fiona Muldoon (Central Bank of Ireland), Professor Casey Mulligan (University of Chicago, author of ‘The Redistribution Recession’) and Professor Martin Hellwig (Max Planck Institute, co-author of ‘The Bankers’ New Clothes’). The forum also will facilitate policy workshops that provide students with unique insights in preparing for the policy competition.
 
Speaking at the launch Secretary General of the Department, John Moran, said that the new competition showed the Department was committed to collaborating with third-level institutions which would be essential in ensuring new economic thinking is to the fore in the development of Ireland’s society and the economy.
 
“I am delighted to continue the Department’s link with the Trinity Economic Forum this year by launching the Department of Finance Award for Policy Advancement. This will give students all over the country the opportunity to use their analytical skills and innovative ideas which will directly feed into the economic thinking of the Department” said Mr. Moran. 
 
Gary Finnerty, coordinator of the Trinity Economic Forum, said the competition would offer students an opportunity to provide their own input into policy making in Ireland, and engage with policy-makers in a proactive way.
 
“This project will reinforce TEF’s unique role as a platform for students to involve themselves directly in the major policy questions facing Ireland today and in the future. We are excited to be working with the Department to create a way in which students can get their ideas heard and an opportunity to create new policies and reinvigorate established ones”, said Mr Finnerty.
 
The forum will take place on February 14^th and 15^th 2014 and the competition will accept submissions fromFebruary 17^th until March 14^th 2014.
 
Please follow @IRLDeptFinance #intern for updates. Queries can be sent to TEFComp@finance.gov.ie orcoordinator@trinityeconomicforum.ie

It is a shocking admission: we stand to be the first generation who will bury our children. Many members of Irish families will die prematurely due to obesity. The problem is growing at an alarming rate, affecting children as young as two and three years of age.

A severely obese person is likely to die eight to 10 years earlier than a person of normal weight. According to Prof Ivan Perry of UCC, more than 1,000 people die each year from heart disease and strokes because of what and how they eat and because of lack of exercise. People in the developed world should not die because of bad nutrition. Obesity is a time bomb we can defuse.

In 2007, 37 per cent of Irish adults were overweight and a further 24 per cent obese. The rates of obesity and overweight have increased in the past 20 years and continue to grow. Up to 80,000 people in Ireland are now morbidly obese, according to consultant endocrinologist, Dr Francis Finucane, who specialises in treating obesity.

Even more shockingly, the Growing Up In Ireland study showed that almost 20 per cent of nine-year-olds were overweight in 2011 and a further 7 per cent obese. Ireland’s only dedicated childhood obesity treatment programme has had a 400 per cent increase in just one year in referrals of children under five years of age.
Long-lasting impact
Today, Ireland is ranked fifth-highest among 27 EU countries in incidence of childhood obesity. The long- lasting impact of early childhood obesity should not be underestimated. Health as an adult is hugely influenced by nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life. Indeed a mother’s diet during pregnancy affect a child’s birth weight and also on the child’s propensity to become obese in later life.

According to a report funded by Safe Food, carried out by UCC department of epidemiology and public health in 2012, the annual cost of obesity to the exchequer is €1.13 billion. It is estimated overweight and obesity account for 2.7 per cent of total health spending. As a result of the obesity epidemic, we are storing up a diabetes epidemic for the future.

At last a whole-of- Government approach involving departments of education, environment, justice and finance has been put in place to help formulate policy to tackle obesity. Many factors contribute to obesity, including genetics, biology, environmental and economic influences. In economic terms, for example, a cut in the prices of foods likely to increase weight contributes to obesity. More intense advertising for unhealthy food aimed at children is also a factor. Cutting down on salt, sugars and fats in processed food would cut the death rate dramatically.

Vending machines
Interventions in schools such as limiting the sale of and access to vending machines and school shops that sell junk food have been quite successful in reducing consumption. It has also been proven that more time spent by young children on physical activity has a positive impact on weight. Children and teenagers need regular exercise. They should be encouraged to play, exercise and participate in sport.

According to Prof Donal O’Shea, consultant endocrinologist and director of the weight management clinic at St Columcille’s Hospital, Loughlinstown: “The big changes in society in the past 25 years have been the pattern of food consumption as well as the volume of food consumption and a cliff edge in relation to physical activity.’

Parents need to be made aware of obesity. They need to know simple things, such as what their child should weigh. Every time a child visits their GP they should be weighed, creating an opportunity for an early intervention before the problem becomes a chronic illness. Parents need to have evidence-based information and support on breastfeeding, information on the optimum time of weaning babies onto solid foods, and portion size appropriate to their children’s ages and weight. No longer should the mantra of “clean your plate” be espoused as if it was a virtue in healthy eating.

This year we will provide training to 2,000 GPs on the new Irish College of General Practitioners’ weight management treatment algorithm.

A so-called fat tax on unhealthy food has been debated. It has been argued that pretty much any food- based tax would lead to a rise in poverty, but also that its effect on cutting obesity is modest.

However, if the Government did propose a “fat tax”, we would have to ensure the money generated was ring- fenced and channelled into schemes that would promote health, sports and activity for young people.

A healthy Ireland requires a whole-of-society approach to improving health and well-being. We need to protect, educate and offer healthy alternatives to the public. Obesity is a problem that will continue to grow, endangering every family, if it is ignored.

Mary Mitchell O’Connor is a Fine Gael TD for Dún Laoghaire

Click here to read this piece in the Irish Times.