Agriculture Committee Chairman welcomes BAI rules allowing cheese advertising to children

12 October 2012

The rules, which will come into effect on from July next year, will not apply to advertisements for cheese.

The BAI launched a public consultation on the draft code at the end of March on the regulation of advertising for foods high in fat, salt and sugar during children’s’ programming. Earlier proposals had included a ban on advertising high and low fat cheeses.

Chairman of the Committee Andrew Doyle TD says: “In May, the former Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture expressed concern that the BAI draft codes proposed a ban on cheese advertising. At a meeting with representatives from the National Dairy Council, the Committee heard the potentially negative impact of the proposed ban on the reputation of the Irish cheese industry and that there were no justifiable nutritional grounds for doing so.

“The Committee made a forceful and common sense contribution to the BAI public consultation on the basis of these discussions, pointing to the dangers in how cheese had been classified in earlier draft advertising codes in the BAI document. On behalf of the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I warmly welcome the decision of the BAI to exempt cheese advertising from the new codes.”    

Ends
For further information contact:
Paul Hand,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 6949926
F: +3531 618 4551
paul.hand@oireachtas.ie

Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine - Membership

Deputies:     
Tom Barry, Fine Gael
 Pat Deering, Fine Gael
 Andrew Doyle, Fine Gael
Martin Ferris, Sinn Féin
 Martin Heydon, Fine Gael
 Colm Keaveney, Labour
 Michael McNamara, Labour
Eamon Ó Cuiv, Fianna Fáil
Thomas Pringle, Independent

Senators:     
Michael Comiskey , Fine Gael
Paschal Mooney, Fianna Fáil
Pat O’Neill, Fine Gael
Mary Ann O’Brien, Independent
Brian Ó Domhnaill, Fianna Fáil
Susan O’Keeffe, Labour