Results 4,441-4,460 of 5,765 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State for the brief she has just given us with respect to the aviation expertise that is available in the IAA. I am delighted they are there. It is vitally important that the IAA is staffed with experts in all aspects of aviation in order that it can do the job we are legislating for it to do. However, moving on from what Senator Doherty has said, I still have not...

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: In all conscience I cannot progress with this legislation. I know the Minister of State thinks I am trying to talk down the Bill. I am not. I want this Bill passed. However, if there is a question mark over the drafting of the Bill as to who was involved, then as a parliamentarian I am obliged to follow through and get answers to that question. It is a simple "Yes" or "No" answer. Do...

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: Sorry, Acting Chairperson, the Minister of State has not responded under any circumstances. Not in our wildest imagination can we believe that the Minister of State has responded. The only thing I know now is that the Minister of State has told us there were consultants involved and that the IAA was involved in the drafting of this legislation. The Department is asking the people we want...

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: We cannot move forward without answers.

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: Sorry, we are not going to put the question. We cannot put the question because we have not even debated the question, apart from Senator Doherty's input.

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: No, the Acting Chairperson has to be fair to the public. The flying public are the people the Acting Chairperson has to be fair to. Four loved people lost their lives in the accident involving Rescue 116. There were clear recommendations laid down as a result of that accident. We are talking about a massive piece of legislation here that will be used to regulate air navigation and...

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: If the people who drafted it were in the IAA, then it is wrong because, at the end of the day, there has to be separation between the regulated and the regulator. What would happen if we decided in the morning that we would take the approach of putting a couple of pilots onto the board of the IAA who are also flying for some company or other? What sort of regulation would we have then?...

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: We gave two and a half hours a week ago and we still did not get the answer. A simple "Yes" or "No", "I do have" or "I do not have" would get us past this point.

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: I am afraid the House decides the parameters. Senator Sherlock cannot just say that she is the Acting Chairperson and that she is going to push this through and to hell with it.

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: As a public representative, I am entitled to get the answer, whether it is "Yes" or "No". I am obliged to do it. We are talking about safety. Already, in this country, four people lost their lives. The Department of Transport was damned to hell in the report relating to that accident in the context of its failure to have proper oversight. So was the IAA, but to a lesser degree because it...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (30 Jun 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: Decisions are made by Departments, particularly in regard to pensions. I know my colleague, Senator O'Loughlin, is deeply concerned about what I am going speak about now. The military service allowance is pensionable today but, at some stage, a decision was made that it would not be pensionable for those who were the early recipients of the allowance. Some sort of a deal was struck. The...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome Ms Cara Hunter, MLA, and Dr. James Wilson to the House. It is great to see them here. I congratulate Ms Hunter on her election and Dr. Wilson on his support for that election. Last week we had the Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020 before the House. I do not wish to rehash the debate but on 29 June, the Department of Transport issued a tender seeking an aviation consultancy...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: I think Senator McDowell's amendment has already been seconded. I propose a third amendment, that No. 4 be amended by the deletion of the second paragraph and the substitution of the following: "to be taken at the conclusion of No. 3 or at 7.15 p.m., whichever shall be the later, and the proceedings thereon shall, if not previously concluded, be adjourned at 8.45 p.m.".First, there is much...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: Yes.

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: I, too, support Senator Norris in this. With the appointments in this Bill generally there is an exclusion first and foremost of members of local authorities. When I look at this particular section I wonder how the Irish Federation of University Teachers, IFUT, and the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, which are the two trade unions representing third level staff, feel about students being...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister is dead right as anybody who was appointed to a board in this country is subject to scrutiny from either within this House, the Lower House or anywhere else one may wish to mention in society in general. I wish to put on the record, however, that chairpersons of boards are frequently brought in before Oireachtas committees and we have absolutely no say in whether their...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: The university is not here to defend itself.

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: My colleague, Senator Malcolm Byrne, made reference to how many inputs I made to pre-legislative scrutiny. I sit on two extremely busy committees, the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. I was also sitting on the Joint Committee on Public Petitions at the time, as well as conducting normal day-to-day business. I did not...

Seanad: Higher Education Authority Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Jul 2022)

Gerard Craughwell: We could call the Leader into the Chamber.