I also welcome everyone back to the Seanad for this term. I wish to mention briefly the issue of Brexit and note that the Taoiseach will come to the House tomorrow to address Members, which I greatly welcome. I ask the Leader to raise with him my concerns about Brexit which I will outline briefly. Last week, like many other Members, I attended a symposium organised by the Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, which I found to be highly informative. Many expert speakers were present to give their opinions on the uncertainty which unfortunately will continue for some time to come. The Leader should bring three points to the Taoiseach's attention. First, it is of vital importance that a senior Minister be appointed to oversee the entire Brexit process. It is a serious issue that will have major implications for the future of the country. Second, the Leader should communicate to the Taoiseach that in negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom he should insist on the presence of the aforementioned Minister to co-ordinate everything that needs to be co-ordinated across all agencies and Departments. I ask the Leader to mention to the Taoiseach that everyone agrees that no country is affected more by the Brexit vote than Ireland and that, on a more micro level, no part of the country is affected more by the Brexit vote than the Border counties from Donegal to Louth. Consequently, I ask that these counties be given special consideration in future negotiations that take place.

I also welcome everyone back for this term. A number of Members have raised the issue of health which is an important one for discussion. While there are difficulties in certain areas, Members should also acknowledge and check out an interesting report that has just been published in the medical journal, The Lancet. Ireland is ranked 13th out of 188 countries in the achievement of the United Nations' development goals on health. There is much adverse coverage on health services, which is having an effect on those who work in the health service.

More people than ever are out of work in the health service because of stress, much of which is generated by poor media coverage. In the past week one newspaper carried an article about an alleged rape and the same article described complaints to the Medical Council. There is a big difference between that criminal offence and complaints to the Medical Council and it is wrong that they were tied in one article. That was not helpful to those involved in medical services.

I agree with Senator Máire Devine on the nursing issue. It is important and can easily be resolved. I fully support what she said about nurses where the difference has arisen and it would not be that costly to resolve the issue. The Leader, Senator Jerry Buttimer, and I attended a meeting with the management of Cork University Hospital and of 50 nurses who graduated this year in Cork, 48 are now employed in that hospital. That is the change we need to get. We still need to bring many people into the service. I agree that we need to remove the dependence on agencies to provide nursing staff and she sooner we do that, the better. We need to make sure it is attractive for nurses to stay here to work. We provide them with an excellent education and people living here should benefit from that education. The Minister needs to take that on board and I ask the Leader to take it up with him at the earliest possible date to resolve the issue in the case of the nurses.