I too join the Cathaoirleach and the other Members in paying tribute to Bernard for his 20 years’ service. He was always friendly, helpful and jovial. He is too young to retire but I wish him well. I am also delighted that Senator Norris is receiving a well-deserved honour. I wish him well too.

I was delighted to read this morning in The Irish Times that the construction of a McDonald's opposite three schools in Greystones will not proceed. I mentioned this yesterday and I am delighted people have got sense. This was going to be close to three schools, which expect to cater for 1,800 pupils.

It was not in line at all with national policy as far as I am concerned. I am glad it is not going ahead.

We have recently seen the huge difficulty and turmoil that the IFA has gotten itself into as a result of the hefty remuneration package it paid to one of its officials. I am glad that as a result, CEOs of many other quangos and national organisations have decided to reveal the remuneration they pay to their top officials. These are people who frequently lecture society on the need for transparency and accountability. It is natural for unions to seek more for their members - that is part of their job - but there is something remiss in the fact that some of the CEOs of those organisations are refusing to reveal what they are earning as a result of their members' fees. They need to reflect and examine their own consciences. All should be prepared to have that information in the open so that there is no argument or controversy. This will affect other organisations unless they make a clean breast of it.

I call Senator Norris. I would like to be associated with the good wishes and congratulations to him and hope he has a very good day tomorrow.

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh, I appreciate your good wishes. I would like to send my good wishes to Bernard Hand. He is, as everybody has said, courteous and very knowledgeable. Anyone who has eavesdropped on the tours he gave of the House will know that. It is of course in the tradition of the ushers who, since the day I entered Leinster House nearly 30 years ago, have been very helpful, kind, efficient and courteous. It is rather sad to lose one of the old faces but there is a constant turnover.

We will miss Bernard's particular skills. I could not help noticing the efficient way in which, a few minutes ago, he detected the presence of a stray mobile telephone on a seat and immediately and quietly removed it so it could not cause any further nuisance. We will miss those talents. I was unaware of his prowess at football but could not help noticing the wide smile that spread across his face when the GAA, football and Paddy Cullen were mentioned. It is very close to his heart and he will now have an opportunity to follow his favourite teams and attend matches. I wish him every happiness in his retirement.

I would like to raise one issue following on from what Senator Mullins said about drinking over the Christmas. I was listening to the wireless this morning and there was an item about the way in which the drinks companies are specifically and deliberately targeting young people. They are doing so with merchandise. It has been demonstrated by academic studies that children in possession of drinks company merchandise are, I think, four times more likely to become involved with drink in a damaging way. It is time we took on the drinks companies on this.

The voluntary approach to this is rubbish. Some stupid creature goes around blathering about drinking safely and such like. There are large advertisements that suggest one will be sexually, socially and financially successful if one has a good slop of a particular brand of beer, gin or whisky, and then at the bottom appear the words "drink carefully". That is not what they want at all. They want us to gorge ourselves on their products and make profits for them.

It is no longer Uncle Arthur, who was a fairly benevolent figure in this city and did contribute; it is now Diageo, which makes underground railway trains, lavatory paper, contraceptives - I do not know what else it makes but it is not a bit interested in the welfare of people here. These executives sit in boardrooms in London and New York and look at graphs. The only way they want to see them go is up, and damn the consequences for the young people. I would like to ask the Leader if we can have a debate on the problem of alcohol in this country.

I would like to be associated with the good wishes to our friend and colleague, Bernard Hand, on his retirement. He is an avid GAA fan like myself and unfortunately I must admit that I did not take his good advice on all occasions. It was always a pleasure to listen to him. I also join in the good wishes for Senator Norris tomorrow. I wish him well. He is back to his brilliant best from a recent illness and I wish him continued good health, as I do Bernard Hand, to whom I also wish long life and happiness in his retirement.

I refer to the record number of visitors and overall trips to our country this year. It is up 12.8%, while our August to October visitors have increased by 14%, which is significant. Our European visitors are up 14.1% while those from the United States are up 13.3%, which will hopefully continue. Our visitors from Great Britain have increased by 11.3%. From January to October, almost 3 million have visited our country from there. Our long-haul overseas visitors from China and Japan and such far-off places number 461,000. I did not realise that. These are CSO figures issued this week.

I call on the Leader for a debate. While these visitor numbers are most welcome, I would like to think that all parts of our country have gained by them. I would like to see that the north west, the north east, the south west and the south east have gained accordingly and that tourists are moving out from the capital city to the countryside.

I endorse everything that has been said and wish Bernard every happiness in his retirement. He will be a loss around this House. We will miss the various exchanges about the football. Leitrim would not come anywhere close to Dublin's success but Bernard was always aware of how Leitrim was doing in the various championships and leagues. It was always great to have a chat with him about that. I wish him every happiness.

Should we refer to our distinguished friend and colleague, Senator Norris, as Doctor Norris from now on? I understand he would not be the only doctor in the House - I mean in academic terms. I think we would also be correct in referring to Professor Barrett as Doctor Barrett. I congratulate Senator Norris on his elevation.

I want to correct the record. Yesterday I quoted a statistic on the wearing of seat belts and did not have the actual note with me at the time. I referred to 65 fatalities due to people not wearing seat belts. In fact, to date in 2015, 65 drivers and 24 passengers have lost their lives on Irish roads. Some 16 of the 65 drivers who were killed, or 25%, and eight of the 24 passengers, or 33%, were confirmed as not wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision. Although I might not have gotten the figures exactly right, it is shocking that 24 people were killed on Irish roads so far this year and were not wearing seat belts.

I thank the Leader for his response yesterday. It was universally felt across the House that these statistics are shocking. In light of Senator Mullins's comments about drink driving coming up to Christmas and being drink aware, surely the most basic requirement for anybody getting into a car is that they should instinctively put on their seat belt. The statistics bear out the severe consequences of not wearing one.