Results 3,701-3,720 of 5,763 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I will finish quickly. Senator Lombard is right that we need to get young people in here. In doing that, we need to ensure that we give those young people a career path that offers them alternatives. I thank the Minister for taking the time to listen to this debate. I am not going to press the amendment. I believe the point is made and that we, as politicians, will be big enough to step...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “Contributions by Public Office Holders 3. Section 14 of the Act of 2010 is repealed.”.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I want to make a point about amendment No. 3. It is important for those who think-----

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (16 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: It is out of order because it involves a charge on the Exchequer. I need people to know that what I was trying to do was to bring in a social welfare charge that we would pay.I was not trying to make Deputies and Senators exempt from paying social welfare contributions.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I join all my colleagues in particularly thanking those who work in the background in Leinster House and make this House work like a well-oiled machine. I wish the Cathaoirleach and the Leader a very happy Christmas. Senator Bacik has blown me away today. I congratulate her on her marriage. This year will stand out in my mind for the coronavirus and everything that goes with it. What...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: They already know that.

Seanad: Appropriation Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (18 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I will be as quick as I can. I brought this issue up on Inchydoney Island in 2015. I said that no government was going to increase the pay of councillors and, to date, I have been proven correct. How does any government or political party dare to treat these people in the way they have treated them over the five years I have been in this House? These are the foot soldiers for political...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Second Stage (18 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State. This is the first time I have addressed him since his elevation and it is great to see him here. I was proud to step aside and let the Labour Party take the slot, given the debt of gratitude that is due to Deputy Howlin, the party and, indeed, Senator Bacik, for bringing this legislation forward. It has been a long and arduous journey. I wish to tell...

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Second Stage (18 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I was just ahead of the smoke signals.

Seanad: Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill 2017: Second Stage (18 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I moved from Morse code in high frequency, through to very high frequency and later mobile phones and on to the Internet where we are today. In that short space of time, I have seen how communications have been used as a weapon to pull people into line. I know this Bill deals with online communication but we must also look at bullying in the workplace and the classroom but particularly the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Customs Checks Post Brexit: Discussion (22 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: For four years prior to Brexit, at the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs, I regularly asked if we were wargaming the ultimate outcome of Brexit. Were customs officials and Revenue working with the road hauliers? Had they done trial runs with trucks? It seems to me that if it was wargamed, it was not wargamed correctly. If it was not wargamed, why not? There was a feeling around...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I wish the Leader of the House a happy birthday. I agree with everything Senator Norris said this morning. We are the one workforce in the country that has no representation anywhere. They can change our terms and conditions of employment and we have nowhere to go, which brings me on to another issue. About two weeks ago there was a newspaper article about a very senior civil servant - I...

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (26 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today to represent the Minister for Health at this important debate. The HSE is being overstretched in the responsibilities that have been placed on it by the Government. It is responsible for the general healthcare of the public as well as testing and tracing and now it is responsible for the roll-out of the vaccine. There should be a...

Seanad: Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation: Statements (Resumed) (26 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I, too, recognise the Acting Chairperson's position today both as the leader of my group and as somebody who has been brave enough to put his personal life in the public domain. I welcome the Minister to the House. It took five years to produce this report and I am sure those who produced it believed it to be a considered and complete report, but I agree with most other speakers who said...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: It is the first time I have addressed the Minister since his elevation. I thank him for agreeing to come before the committee for today’s discussion. I am always wary when I hear that somebody wants to get legislation through without pre-legislative scrutiny because that is what leads to many of the problems that arise. When legislation is bad, it takes forever to correct it. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I appreciate what the Minister has just said. He will understand that I used the R116 accident investigation as a glaring example of something that has dragged on in perpetuity. Very little can be learned from that accident until the report is finalised. I understand that there are difficulties with that but I was merely using it as an analogy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: Would the Chairman permit a question to the Minister on the quarantine issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: The quarantine issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: General Scheme of the Merchant Shipping (Investigation of Marine Casualties) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (29 Jan 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: Last night on the "The Tonight Show" a Minister of State said we were still at the stage of hoping people will self-isolate when they come home, if they have to quarantine. Surely we could have taken over one or two hotels in Dublin and bussed people straight to the hotel similar to what is being done in Australia. When one arrives in Australia, one is brought straight to a hotel to...

Seanad: Response to Covid-19 (Housing, Local Government and Heritage): Statements (1 Feb 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister. This is the first time I have addressed him as Minister. Congratulations to him. He is a hard-working man and I am delighted to see him in the position. I also think he is ideally suited to the Department to which he has been appointed. I am always unhappy about statements. I believe they are a waste of parliamentary time and it is a waste of the Minister's time...