Physical activity crisis: Getting our children moving

DR JOHANN Issartel of Dublin City University’s School of Health and Human Performance is not given to hyperbole. 

So when he describes the inability of Irish teens to perform basic elements of physical activity as “a potential catastrophe for public health”, he must be taken seriously.

His concerns rest on a 2014 study by Dublin City University that found just 11% of Irish adolescents had mastered basic physical movements, something that came naturally to previous generations.