A chara, – Your editorial ("Sugar tax, sour response", (August 9th) on taxation of sugar-sweetened drinks refers to the struggle to protect the health of consumers and strengthening political resolve to challenge powerful commercial interests.
The Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) published a health impact assessment of such a tax in 2012. The evolving evidence supporting this measure has been neglected, with scant mention of the positive outcomes of similar taxation in Mexico and Hungary.
The tax will not, on its own, solve the epidemic of overweight and obesity. However, the evidence is clear, should one engage with it, that taxation can be one important component of a suite of policy measures. The Department of Health is expected to publish a new obesity policy this year, and both the Irish and UK governments have made firm commitment to the progression of the tax and they have done so based on evidence supporting its effectiveness. – Is mise,
Dr HELEN McAVOY, MD
Director of Policy,
Institute of Public Health
in Ireland,
Bishop’s Square,
Redmond’s Hill,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – Instead of wasting its time focusing on the ill-advised and unpopular sugar tax, the Government should be focused on opening more routes through our beautiful countryside for walkers, cyclists and horse-riders.
Things for walkers and cyclists have improved since I first began walking regularly in Ireland’s hill country a couple of decades ago, but there is still a very long way to go. Horse-riders, meanwhile, are completely forgotten about and must on a daily basis cope with the danger of our roads when they wish to exercise their horses.
In my own area, we have been waiting for years for new walking and cycling routes, such as a greenway on the old rail route between Birr and Roscrea, to come to fruition. There’s been a lot of talk but no action. – Yours, etc,
DEREK FANNING,
Birr,
Co Offaly.