Dear Minister Simon Harris and Minister Joe McHugh,

Food education in our schools is not a luxury, it's a necessity. This generation of  children, mine and yours, are growing up in an Ireland on track to become the most obese nation in Europe, according to the World Health Organisation. I don't want this for my children - do you want it for yours?

In a study undertaken by UCC, children as young as 8 were considered as having high blood pressure. My youngest son is 8 -  I don't want this for him. Do you want this for your children?

Something needs to be done and while I totally acknowledge that, as a parent, I have a responsibility for my own children's health, the toxic environment that we live in where there are Easter eggs for sale in January and biscuits are cheaper than  an apple makes this challenging.

We need to create a new, positive food environment for our children. One where fresh fruit and veg, whole grains and nutritious foods are the norm. We need to make this kind of food the everyday, in school and at home. 

So Minister Harris, take the money you were going to use to put calories on menus and redirect that into something that will actually make a difference to the health of our children - yours and mine. Invest it in food education - teach children about food - what it looks like, what it tastes like, how to cook it and how to eat and enjoy it. 

Let's teach our children, yours and mine, that food can nourish us rather than make us sick, which is what our food is doing currently. And let's save millions on health costs for the Government at the same time.

So as you can see, Ministers, food education is not a luxury - it will save children from disease and it will save us all money, surely necessary things? So please act - for your children and for mine.

Regards ,

Deirdre Doyle