Catherine Noone (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the launch today of the Oireachtas cross-party group on the misuse of alcohol. Today, Mr. Alastair Campbell and a few medical practitioners, who addressed the all-party Oireachtas group, gave us details of the crisis caused by the misuse of alcohol. I am on record as having spoken about it on numerous occasions. I think the problems caused by it are well known. The measures in the alcohol strategy, including minimum pricing, restriction of advertising and change of certain measures on packaging need to be implemented. Will the Leader say when it is proposed that the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Alex White will come to the House to discuss this matter? I have requested on a number of occasions to have this issue debated.

We have discussed the matter on a previous occasion but we need to discuss it again especially in the context of alcohol sponsorship for sports and other events.

I was pleased to hear the good news this morning that Ireland has been awarded the accolade of the destination that offers the most potential for Chinese travellers at a ceremony in Shanghai today. Over 3 million people were surveyed and Ireland had to compete with destinations such as South Africa, Dubai, Turkey, Sweden, Kenya and Queensland. Ireland was the overall winner in the survey, which is great news. The result is due to the work done by Tourism Ireland which has committed to increasing the amount of Chinese tourists from 17,000 up to 50,000 every year for the next five years.

I wish to mention a related issue which was also raised by Senator Landy. The Irish Hotels Federation has indicated that there are approximately 3,000 vacancies in the hotel and catering trade. We must be ready for tourists on one level but the statistic begs the question alluded to by Senator Landy. Why do these jobs exist in a country with high unemployment? The matter also raises all sorts of questions in the social welfare area. Therefore, I support the Senator's request to invite the Minister for Social Protection to attend here to discuss the matter.