The new Minister for Health Promotion has admitted she is obese.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy says she is only now coming to terms with her weight, having previously thought of herself as 'curvaceous'.

She was taking part in a Dáil discussion about the obesity problem, when she admitted she herself had a part to play.

"I think we now have one in four children who are obese and over 50% of the population, I think it's around 60% actually, are obese.

"It's something I'm going to have to look into, I always thought I was curvaceous but now I'm told I'm obese and I'm going to have to do something about it."