Madam, - I applaud the town councils which provide state-of-the-art leisure centres and swimming pools to encourage healthy exercise.
I recently visited one such centre in Dundalk with my three young children. It struck me as ironic that the reception area had vending machines offering fizzy drinks and chocolate bars, freezers offering ice-cream and a pick 'n' mix area offering a variety of sweets.
Monaghan has recently opened its new public swimming pool and leisure centre. It too has installed vending machines which spit out fizzy drinks and chocolate bars. The superb National Aquatic Centre in Dublin has many vending machines - and goes one step further by advertising M&Ms on the walls inside the swimming pool!
We have successfully removed sweets from check-out areas in supermarkets. There are recommendations to have vending machines removed from schools. Can we not do the same in our sports centres? Do we really need a national task force on obesity to point out the obvious? - Yours, etc,
MARIA MACKLIN, Dundalk, Co Louth.