Hospital must set healthy example

GIVING sweets to children is a topic that continues to give and give — it gives obesity, diabetes, ill-health, hyperactivity, depression, caries and a lifetime’s legacy of poor taste.

This week’s news (the matter came up in March, but we’ve only heard of it now through the Freedom of Information Act) that Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin is to close its tuck shop is a good move on balance.

While some may howl that sick kids should have a few sweets, God help them, this move isn’t an outright ban — it just means the hospital is taking control of its end of the matter.