Results 3,941-3,960 of 5,763 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I advise colleagues that RTÉ's "Nationwide" programme at 7 o'clock this evening will feature a film on what it was really like to be at Jadotville. Everybody here should watch it. I will not say any more on that matter because it is sub judice. I am sure the Leader is aware that many of us are receiving emails concerning a statement she made in this House on 14 October. I fully...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: We must have a national conversation about those who have decided, for whatever reason, that they do not wish to be vaccinated. The Government must step into the frame and provide the education and information required to deal with this issue of people who are genuinely afraid of vaccines. Early in the summer, I stated I was due to have an AstraZeneca vaccination and that I was...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister is anxious. I do not agree with my colleague, Senator Higgins, because we should not put in anything that will constrain us because we do not know what will happen in the future. There has been a lot of talk about European armies and the like so this debate is an opportunity to convey that there is no possibility of a European army where there is not an independent European...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: We saw how Ireland's ability to train with other armies around the world benefited us recently in Kabul. When our people went on the ground out there, they knew people on the ground there and were able to interact with them, and that is really important. I agree with certain restrictions on how troops might be used overseas, but Kabul is an example of how quickly things can change and a...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: Force commanders have a certain amount of control over our troops on the ground but a senior liaison officer from the Irish Defence Forces is always on the ground, and if a force commander is trying to bring us into something in which we should not be involved, the senior liaison has a route straight back to the Minister's office and it can be stopped at that point. I am not, therefore, sure...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (20 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I am a little concerned at what is being proposed. Force commanders, whether they are on a UN mission, EU mission or any other mission that has been jointly agreed, are constrained by the criteria set out in the mission. If, by some manner or means, we have a force commander who runs wild and decides to undertake something that was not in the mandate, then it falls to the senior Irish...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I second Senator Sherlock's amendment to the Order of Business. The Rescue 116 families are confronted with the possibility of massive legal costs. I have raised the Rescue 116 incident several times here and the failure to deliver a report. It is outrageous that these families are being called upon to pay for their legal costs. I do not believe they were the people who initiated the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: We might organise a specific debate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (21 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank our guests and my colleagues who have covered most of the areas already. I will deviate slightly. There has been a lot of talk about sustainable energy, renewables and so on. Recently, a relative of mine purchased an electric car. I believe the carbon footprint of manufacturing that car would not be any different from that of manufacturing a fossil fuel petrol or diesel car. We...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (21 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank Mr. Burke for his reply. It was an honest one. I tire of listening to those who take the moral high ground speak of reducing carbon footprints and the like on the planet and moving the cost of global warming from the rich western world to the poorer parts of the world. The policies need to change in that they need to have a massive human rights aspect to them. When it comes to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (21 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: No, I fully accept what Mr. Burke says and thank him. If the EU has policies in place on biofuel to ensure there is minimum impact on the humans of this world, we need to hear an awful lot more about it and maybe hear about it at the same level as we hear about the need to reduce global warming and our carbon footprint on the world. Maybe we need to start hearing also about the humans of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Foreign Birth Registration (2 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State. This is the first time I have had the opportunity to address him since his elevation, so I would like to congratulate him in that regard. He was a very decent colleague when I first came to this House. I wish him well as he goes forward in this ministerial role.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Foreign Birth Registration (2 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: The Department paused the processing of foreign birth registration applications last year when level 5 restrictions under the national framework for living with Covid-19 were in place. The Minister indicated last year that applications were being held securely and would be processed when normal services resumed at level 3 of the framework. It is now 2021. Restaurants, pubs and restaurants...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Foreign Birth Registration (2 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate he is here representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. He might bring my message back to the Department. Some of the stories arriving on my desk are about families being split; one parent who has a passport can travel back to Ireland but because his or her child was born overseas the child cannot travel. There are also the retirees I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: A couple of weeks ago in the House I spoke about the crisis in the Coast Guard. Some days after that, I attended the inaugural meeting of the Irish Coast Guard Volunteers Representative Association in Kilkee. I must say that things have deteriorated to a point where, maybe this evening, we will have no volunteers in Doolin in County Clare. It looks very much like we will have no Coast...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: The north-west technological university is in my own home heartland.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome it too. I am delighted to see Castlebar, my mother's town, getting university status and, of course, Galway. I represented all of those colleges once and I am delighted.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: The citizens of this country have worked hard to follow Government guidelines with respect to Covid-19. We now have a situation where the numbers are rising again at a worrying level. I will outline an issue that has been brought to my attention recently. A few fully vaccinated people around the area in which I live have came down with Covid-19 and this is causing massive worry among...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (3 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I regret to speak against my colleague on this but we live in an evolving world now and things change. For example, nobody would have believed or envisaged a couple of years ago that the European Union would put its own forces into a specific conflict zone. Therefore, I am reluctant to tie anything down at this stage and urge that we retain flexibility. If we commit troops overseas to...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (3 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: On Committee Stage, that when we deploy troops overseas under command of a local commander, we cede a certain amount of responsibility to that person on the ground in order that they can move troops to different places. If there is any danger that we are crossing the line or being asked to cross the line, there is a senior Irish Army officer or a senior Defence Forces officer in the field...