New national plan aims to get half a million more people taking regular exercise – Fitzpatrick

Fine Gael TD for Louth and Member of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Peter Fitzpatrick, has said that Ireland’s first ever National Physical Activity Plan will aim to get half a million more people taking regular exercise.

“In Ireland today only 32% of adults are meeting the national physical activity recommendations, while one in four children are unfit, overweight or obese and have elevated blood pressure. These figures are stark and it’s clear that what we need now is action to help get more people engaging in regular exercise.

“I’m delighted to see that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar and Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring today launched the new National Physical Activity Plan today.

“The key target of this plan is to increase the number of people taking regular exercise by 1% a year over ten years – that’s around 50,000 people every year or half a million in total. The aim is to do this by making exercise a normal part of everyday life and giving people more opportunities to be active.

“The emphasis here is very much on fun and enjoyment, but considering the low levels of regular exercise among Irish people the goal couldn’t be more serious.

“Key features of the plan include a new annual campaign to encourage more people to get active more often, support for 500 new community walking groups, further training for health professionals on using physical activity to prevent or treat chronic conditions and a new push to get employers to encourage Healthy Workplace initiatives.

“Children will also be a key target for this campaign, as only 19% of primary and 12% of post-primary school children meet the physical activity recommendations. Under today’s plan the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment will finalise a new PE curriculum framework at Senior Cycle level and a new topic called ‘Wellbeing’ will be launched next September as part of the new Junior Cycle to include Physical Education. Meanwhile healthy lifestyles will be promoted in primary and secondary schools.

“It’s my hope that this plan will help more people of all ages and from across the country to get active and exercise  The economic recovery, brought about by the policies of this Government and the hard work of the Irish people, means we can now invest in key public health areas such as this. Fine Gael has a long term plan to keep the recovery going. We are seeing economic progress, with over 135,000 more people at work. Our plan will deliver more new jobs and affordable, sustainable improvements in services. The plan will allow us to continue targeted investment in areas like public health and wellbeing, which are vital for this country and its people.”