Results 81-100 of 5,873 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: On Tuesday, I made a statement with respect to the Crotty case in Limerick. The point I made was that senior politicians rushed to condemn all the members of the Defence Forces. I also made the point that a young officer, a commissioned officer of this country, went to court because he was obliged to do so, and gave a report on Crotty's military record. Somehow or other, my friend and...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I want to put my questions in context. I do not believe Ireland is a neutral country within the internationally accepted meaning of the word. Neither is Ireland a non-aligned country, as it has never joined or associated itself with the Non-Aligned Movement, which comprises 120 member countries. My personal wish is for Ireland to become for the first time since Independence, a truthful,...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I am happy for any of the witnesses to reply to any or all of the questions.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I will put my position on the table. This conversation around the triple lock is a red herring and a waste of time within this Oireachtas at the moment. I know of nobody who is interested in it outside of this House. If it was put on a survey it would come in somewhere around 50th or 55th of the areas of priority for the public. Perhaps we should introduce a triple lock for Ministers...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: We should be talking about the real issues in defence, not the triple lock. I have no interest in whether it is removed or whether it stays.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: We are a sovereign nation. We stand proudly among the nations of the world. No other nation has the triple lock. Surely to God we can rely on and trust the Parliament of the State to decide. I fully accept UN mandates but we do not need the UN to tell us where we can move our troops. If Professor Murphy interprets this as me being pro-removal of the triple lock, I am agnostic about it....

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: As do I.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: If the UN had any value, we would not have the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The UN is a dysfunctional organisation that is dominated by superpowers and that is a sad reflection on the organisation.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: The US is engaging with the Israelis with a view to reviewing the UNIFIL operation. If the US, which pays 26% of the cost of all peacekeeping operations, decides that it will remove the mandate for UNIFIL, the Irish troops will be home the following day, that will be the end of the UNIFIL operation and they can then do whatever the hell they want in Gaza or anywhere else. Our troops will...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Language is extremely important. "Triple lock", "neutrality" and "military non-alignment" are being used in the same sentence. Military non-alignment is the polar opposite of neutrality and the triple lock is not governed by either of them. They are three separate issues. It is important that when the public appraise these things, the language they hear is clear and distinct. We sorted...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (12 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I think Professor Murphy agreed with me.

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Second Stage (11 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I acknowledge my friend and colleague Victor Boyhan, who laid details of his private life not just before the House but also the country in order to advocate on behalf of those he lived with and those he had lived experience of. He is one of the great heroes of this entire debacle. I also acknowledge the ladies in the Visitors' Gallery who quietly advocated outside the gates of Leinster...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Jun 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I hear lots of talk about the current situation in the Air Corps in particular, but also in the wider Defence Forces. The Taoiseach recently said the crisis in the Air Corps was a matter for military management. I want to put on the record of this House that military management has no funding of its own. It is at the total behest of the Department of Defence. We find ourselves in a...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome Ms Maguire and her team and thank them for being here. I also thank Ms Maguire for her comprehensive report. I will start by saying that the Chair declared that our work here today is extremely important. I respectfully suggest that this is a complete red herring. We have an air force that cannot fly, a Naval Service that can only put one ship to sea, and the entire Defence...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I will interrupt for second if I may. If there is a list, it needs to be made available to this committee.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: It needs to be made available immediately.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I need to interrupt Ms Maguire on this, I am sorry Chair-----

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: The issue of Ukraine is one of serious contention for me. We are talking about a situation - and my colleague Senator Tom Clonan made the point - where a Government majority can do anything it wants. In the case of Ukraine, a Minister, without ever coming to the Oireachtas, made a statement to the effect that in the case of Ukraine, we are not neutral. That committed this entire country,...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (29 May 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I want to move away from the triple lock and turn to the Ward report. The Peter Ward report has clearly exonerated a fine military officer who was forced to go to court in Limerick to give a report on the Crotty case. Senior politicians in this House criticised and damned that officer to hell. I see in the heads of Bill we are talking-----