The momentum to challenge the destructive role of poor, sugary foods in our diet and lives, especially in our children’s development, is at last gathering momentum. Even at this late hour, this is to be welcomed and encouraged to the point where policymakers are emboldened to become far more assertive, less timorous, than they are today. It is, after all, a matter of life or death, primarily the lives of the poorest, least educated in society.

A blanket ban on sweets at supermarket checkouts is unlikely in Ireland anytime soon judging by the responses of major retailers to an Irish Examiner query asking if they were considering such a ban.