Ban ignores the other sweet deals

SWEETS are evil. Sweets are bad. You are putting your children at risk by letting them eat sweets.

Yes, I’m talking a lot of tosh — but frankly, removing sweets from Our Lady’s Hospital is a load of tosh.

Irish adults and children have eaten sweets for generations, without the state having to resort to cranes to extract kids from their beds.

Obviously, feeding a child a diet of sugar and fat means that you are putting them at risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiac trouble.

For whatever reason, some parents choose the path of least resistance with their children. But banning sweets from a shop is not going to stop this kind of thoughtless, ill-informed and lazy parenting.

This move by Crumlin is just crazy, right-on symbolism. It’s lily-livered posturing rather than any real stand on nutrition.

My children have never attended Our Lady’s, so I don’t know much about the quality of the food there

However, any time I’ve been in hospital in this country, my normally hearty appetite vanishes. Soups are all from a packet. Vegetables metamorphose into mush and the eggs, meat or fish never taste fresh. I have often ended up filling up with crap from the shop as I’m starving.

Banning sweets is nonsense, as the same parents that dole out money for sweets will still bring them in from outside.

And this from a hospital that has no problem taking funding from the likes of McDonalds — the Ronald McDonald House is found at Crumlin — or seeking sponsorship from the purveyors of some of the most sugar-laden cereals on the market. Crumlin’s current Fun Raise for Kids is sponsored by Kellogg’s, of Frosties, Coco Pops and Honey Loops fame.

Obesity and poor nutrition need to be tackled. Educating parents needs to be taken seriously but will not be achieved easily. Remember, you’re up against the mighty power of the Kellogg’s and McDonalds of this world, with their empires built on pester-power.