Results 3,321-3,340 of 5,762 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I am talking about organ-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Realistically, we are never available.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: It was a fantastic piece of work, but it does not explain the reason ships lay anchor a couple of miles off the County Cork coast and stay there for a few days.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Is the Minister of State going to act on it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I am glad that you follow me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: You must, if you can say-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: We had eight ships at the time, one of which was in the Mediterranean. There were seven masts at Haulbowline. Unless the Minister of State has a few spare masts lying around, they were tied up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Retention was the other issue. The Minister of State speaks about the White Paper, but retention is mentioned once and it is only one word.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Many senior NCOs who are due to retire would happily stay on if the Minister of State extended the period.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: That is fine. I thank the Minister of State.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister of State quoted recruitment figures. He gave a figure of almost 8,000 in 2017, almost 5,000 in 2016 and so on. We must get away from quoting the numbers who express an interest. Clearly, the Defence Forces have told the Minister of State that the level of resilience is below 10%. I think it is 9% at present. Of those who apply, less than 50% actually get through the first...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Did anybody mention this problem to the Deputy when he was in Athlone yesterday?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Foreign Affairs Council – Defence, and Related Matters: Minister of State at the Department of Defence (18 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I accept that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Annual Report of European Court of Auditors: Discussion (17 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank Mr. Murphy for his comprehensive report. There is a general consensus about public private partnerships, PPP, not least in education, in which I have a professional background. I have heard principals do nothing but sing the praises of PPP projects and how they deliver for them. If PPPs were to be used, for example, to install toll bridges on the M50, taking the macro-view of PPP...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Annual Report of European Court of Auditors: Discussion (17 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Getting it down that low is quite good in the grand scheme of things. Are strategies being looked at to eliminate it totally? If so, how successful are they expected to be, bearing in mind that human beings will always try to find a way around any rules or regulations that are introduced?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Annual Report of European Court of Auditors: Discussion (17 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Erasmus+ was discussed at length, but it is an area of particular interest to me, as it marries with the issue of youth unemployment and is an programme for apprenticeships. There was some talk about expanding it. I believe a trial module is being run somewhere, but it could be expanded to include a much wider audience. Is that something at which Mr. Murphy is looking? What future does he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Annual Report of European Court of Auditors: Discussion (17 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: From an EU funding point of view, taking broadband as an example, if a member state decides that it is going to provide broadband through fibre optics cables, while other more advanced member states are using 4G and 5G to provide broadband, will the EU committee take a view on how the funding should be used? Does it tell us that our idea is bad and that we should do something different?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Annual Report of European Court of Auditors: Discussion (17 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Is the figure of 703 taken from a random sample?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Annual Report of European Court of Auditors: Discussion (17 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Surely the advice of the European Court of Auditors must be sought, given that the impact of Brexit may be catastrophic when there is no funding coming from the United Kingdom. Budgets will have to shrink at a rapid pace.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Annual Report of European Court of Auditors: Discussion (17 Oct 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I come from a background in0 further education. In the early 1990s there was a tendency for people to enter into further education and never leave it; they just moved from course to course. They qualified in everything but still went nowhere. I have always felt the rule should be that once someone completes a programme, he or she should move on. If we only move people from one training...