How can we treat obesity when we can’t talk about what’s staring us in the face?

Last week we heard that the he cost of treating obesity and related illnesses is close to €500 million a year in the republic of Ireland. We heard that from the Taoiseach and not the Minister for Health. Is it too politically incorrect to ask why? Too un-pc to point out that the person who is in charge of the health services is grossly overweight?

Let’s get one thing straight. Mary Harney, whether you like her or loath her, is a top politician. She’s survived and triumphed in a man’s world and anyone who can drag an unpopular party like the PDs to Government the way she has, is no muppet. It seems all the media and opposition politicians love having a go at her. She’s still here, despite their best efforts.

Let’s get another thing straight. She’s fat. Oh boy is she fat. If she was a school girl during any given lunch hour, she’d be know as fatty Harney, fatso, pigsy, porky, fat Mary, pies Mary or a host of other names that reference her weight and size because she’s fat.

She’s not plump or cuddly (unless you’re into that kind of thing), voluptuous or curvey or slightly overweight. She’s fat and most likely obese given that the word means excessively fat and grossly overweight.

There’s nothing wrong with being fat - her own health problems are a matter for her - but when it comes to talking about the problem of 300,000 overweight children in this country, there is something wrong when the Health Minister can’t put her two cents worth in.

There is also something wrong when it was first mooted that Harney would take over the Health portfolio no one pointed out that here is a person who could have series issues in trying advise the nation on the dangers of obesity.

If we’re not allowed to talk about Harney’s weight as the person in charge of overseeing a reform in Irish attitudes to diet, does that mean we can’t talk about blind people because David Blunkett is in the room?