Results 5,861-5,880 of 5,914 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I am not going to take a lot of time on this. My colleague, Senator Boyhan, said more than any of us could say. The passion with which he speaks is incredible, and I am proud to call him my friend. Ordinarily, I would be against a motion seeking something to be laid before the House in 12 months, but on this occasion I support this for one reason and one reason only. By looking for it to...

Seanad: Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (1 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: There is a lot I would like to say but as my colleague, Senator Victor Boyhan, pointed out in his various contributions during the passage of the Bill, we are here to give voice to the voiceless. With the permission of the Cathaoirleach, I have been granted permission to read a letter from Sheila O'Byrne into the record of the Seanad. These are her words, not mine: I Sheila O Byrne, who...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: The weekend of 12 and 13 July is a weekend of commemoration and remembrance. The Royal British Legion's annual event at Islandbridge takes place on 12 July and the Irish commemoration takes place on Sunday, 13 July. As president of the Connaught Rangers Association and a former member of the Royal Irish Rangers, I will be there. I encourage people to be there. As a nation, we have grown...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: It was €30 million worth, nonetheless. It is wonderful to see how the security services can work together to stop gun runners and drug runners. The sad thing is that we do not have sufficient naval cover to cover the entire coast.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: State-sponsored.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Well, let us not waste time on that then. We will move on.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Come on now. I specifically said, if the witnesses want a referendum, it should empower all three sections of the Oireachtas, namely, the President, the Seanad and the Dáil. Rather than looking to an outside agency, you would look inward. Mr. Kelly quotes the United Nations. What about regional deployments? The triple lock prevents us from participating in regional deployments,...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: On that we agree.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I said it on the floor of the Seanad.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Does Ms Ní Bhriain honestly think that if there is all-out war, our little island will be left alone?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: No, it was not. We provided safe passage for the Allies right through the Second World War.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Thousands of our people died - thousands.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Two minutes is a very short time. I must draw attention to the comments Mr. Kelly made about elected representatives. We live in a democracy and that democracy means every one of us sitting around this table was elected. We put ourselves forward for election and we take all the insults and social media that goes with that. To come in here and sit before us and undermine and diminish the...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Yes. The witnesses came in and made a statement about 264 of 284 resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council. When was the last time the United Nations Security Council authorised a peacekeeping mission? They speak about the United Nations General Assembly. It has been established here by the academics and military that have been here prior to the witnesses that first,...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: ----- and the transportation of weapons across our airspace. How do we know they are there? We cannot see them. It is a nonsense argument.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: How do we stop it?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Yes. How do we?

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Mr. Kelly knows what is published.

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their submissions. They are both elected through a democratic process to the office they now hold. I therefore assume that they believe in sovereignty. Do they believe Ireland is a sovereign nation capable of making up its own mind with respect to the deployment of its troops? If we were to apply the triple lock to MEPs and had to get...

Committee on Defence and National Security: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Jul 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: With all due respect-----