Calorie counter is flabby thinking

This week’s Cabinet decision to approve measures that would oblige restaurants to put calorie counts on menus is another example of the nanny state stepping into the gap where personal responsibility should stand.

Do we really need to make it obligatory on food businesses — just another way of describing employers — to tell their customers that battered sausages are fattening?

That soft drinks are almost a form of child abuse? And that a sticky toffee pudding, no matter how delicious, will be just minutes on the lips but years on the hips?

The Restaurants Association of Ireland has warned that the measure will cost food outlets €100m a year and, even if the figure is only half that, it seems a ridiculous imposition.

After all, we all know who will ultimately pay.

There is the usual Irish quandary in an Irish solution to an Irish problem.

How might the legislation be enforced? Will we have health officials queueing for fish suppers so they can send them off for analysis to see if they match the calorie levels advertised?

Obesity is a problem and we must do more to tackle it but this seems a hamfisted gesture.

It imposes costs on the majority to support tokenism aimed at the less responsible.

The legislation seems focused on those so indifferent to their own health that they have not bothered to learn the difference between a fry-up and a piece of fruit.

It will in all likelihood fall flat as a pancake.