I concur with Senator David Norris on the difficulties pertaining to nurses. Soon, we will have lost an entire generation of nurses to foreign soil which is something we will regret down the road. I concur with the remarks of Senator Colm Burke in regard to general practitioners. The proposal, as presented to them, is unworkable, will not succeed and will cause damage to service.

I ask the Leader for a debate on the fishing industry, particularly, in regard to inshore fishermen. These are the fishermen who go out in small boats of 18 ft. to 22 ft. For most of the past four months, given the appalling weather conditions, storms, huge tides and waves, they have been unable to fish. They depend on the weather for a window of opportunity. They are classified as self-employed. I met a met a group of the fishermen last Sunday, most of whom find it almost impossible to put bread on the table for their families. As they are classified as self-employed, I suggest they seek fish assist from the social welfare office. Having asked officials from the Department of Social Protection about this scheme, I do not think it has ever been utilised. These men were shrimp fishing, lobster fishing, crab fishing, scallop dredging and gillnetting for pollock, which is seasonal. There are 120 to 130 such fishermen in my constituency and many around the country who are not represented and are not in any association.

I ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, to intervene with the Minister for Social Protection, to ensure in the event of severe storms, when it is obvious the fishermen cannot go out to sea, a mechanism is put in place whereby they can short-circuit the system to get social welfare. At the social welfare office they are told, as they are self-employed, to come back in 12 months time with their account and to prepare a report. It is a crazy system and I am aware it is a system the Minister inherited. I raised the issue about ten years ago when my party was in government. Almost 12 months ago, in April or May 2013, the Leader gave a commitment for a debate on the fishing industry. I am aware we have had a debate on farming but a debate on the fishing industry generally is well over due. I will not push for a vote on it today but if, in the next couple of weeks, I do not have a commitment from the Minister to come to the House on these issues I will certainly seek to table an amendment to the Order of Business.

I thank Senator David Norris for his comments. It is wonderful to see Dublin being defended in the way that sometimes areas west of the Shannon are defended. The north side of Dublin contains some of the poorest areas in the country.

I wish to respond to the points made about people not turning up for hospital appointments. I will give a brief account of a personal story. In 2006, at the height of the Celtic tiger, my daughter was unfortunate enough to break both of her wrists and for a number of months was in casts. Eventually she received an appointment to go to Crumlin hospital to have them removed. We duly attended. There were 300 patients before us. Eventually she was seen and the casts were removed. When I arrived home that day there was a letter from Crumlin hospital advising me not to turn up for my appointment as it had been postponed for a week. I received another letter to say the appointment was postponed for yet another week. I waited because I was curious to see how many letters I would receive before the administration of that hospital realised that my daughter's casts had already been removed. It is a bit glib to blame ordinary people for sometimes very serious deficits in administration in our hospital systems.

I congratulate the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, on getting approval from Cabinet for a strategy on homelessness. Some 84% of those at the Constitutional Convention last weekend voted for the inclusion in the Constitution of a right to a home. I am sure we are all in the same position. I have people calling to me day after day because their rent supplement is not sufficient for them to afford somewhere to live and they are moving into homeless services. I ask the Leader for a debate - perhaps two, the first on how to implement the right to a home in current circumstances and, second, to ask the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, to address us on the emergency situation in rent supplement and how she plans to address it.

I will follow through on the calls for a debate on the health service, nurses and patients. I was chairman of a hospital on one occasion and tried to have the patients called customers. The more we can remind hospitals and the health service that the patients are actually customers, the better. The issue that bothered me about patients not turning up was the tradition of calling everybody at the same time. In other words, if the consultant was coming in from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. he told everybody to come at 3 p.m. which resulted in a large number of people arriving at the same time. The administration of the health service will have to change in some form or other. It has changed a great deal and people are now given ten or 15 minute slots. That people do not turn up for their appointment is extremely frustrating for the hospital administrators. I understand there will be an opportunity for a debate on the issue and the sooner we have it, the better.