I join colleagues in welcoming the election of Ms Emily O'Reilly to the post of European Ombudsman. She did a fantastic job as Ombudsman and will be a hard act to follow.

I support Senator Rónán Mullen's comments on Ireland's international image as a nation of drinkers.

I regret that we must constantly see images of leaders of other countries who visit Ireland drinking a pint of Guinness. That irritates me every time I see it happen.

President Obama got stuck with it, but the Queen was cute enough. Breeding will out.

However, I am not going to get into a debate on alcohol now because I would feel like a killjoy. I want to highlight something I mentioned yesterday regarding the CSO figures and the increase in the number of tourists from emerging markets such as China and India. While conducting some research, I discovered that Fáilte Ireland and the Irish Film Board had succeeded in enticing six top Hollywood producers to visit Ireland at the end of this month, with a view to making more movies here. The Bollywood movie, "Ek Tha Tiger", which was filmed in Dublin last September was one of the highest grossing movies in India where it was seen by no less than 100 million cinemagoers. The equivalent exposure in advertising terms for future blockbuster Bollywood movies filmed here is incalculable. Such exposure sends powerful images of Ireland to far flung parts of the world.

Another innovative initiative-----

Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?

I am getting to it. Another noteworthy point concerns a Fáilte Ireland initiative involving a celebrity Chinese couple. This may sound frivolous, but it is interesting and important. The couple spent their honeymoon in Ireland last November and generated approximately €500,000 worth of publicity in China, for the meagre investment of €8,000, because they blogged and posted pictures of themselves in Ireland. Initiatives such as this are seriously worthwhile. While we need to keep value for money as a key factor in tourism initiatives, ingenious initiatives such as these are something for which we need to give huge credit to Fáilte Ireland and the Department responsible for tourism.