The campaign group that successfully lobbied against a planned McDonald's restaurant in Greystones, Co Wicklow, has revealed it is to expand its campaign nationwide to establish so-called 'no fry zones' in areas close to schools.
The Greystones No Fry Zones for Kids group said it wanted to share its experiences with similar campaign groups across the country.
The group said that it would also lobby local authorities to include provisions for no fry zones in their respective county development plans.
According to the group, a no fry zone would specify that any new fast-food outlets would not be permitted to open within 400m of schools.
The plan for a new McDonald's drive-thru restaurant in Greystones would have seen the fast-food chain located just 30m from the grounds of a school campus in the town that is home to three schools.
One of the schools had been granted leave to seek a judicial review to the plans, but it was confirmed last week that Lidl, which owns the site, is to pursue other plans for the lands.
Group Chairperson Philip Moyles said there is interest among communities elsewhere in the country for no fry zones and that already a number of groups based in Galway and Kerry had made contact with him seeking advice.
Mr Moyles added that, "with an election year coming up childhood obesity is such a key issue".
He added that "the ingredients are right there to really push this".
