Results 5,921-5,940 of 5,982 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I congratulate the interview board for the new Clerk of the Seanad because they made life very easy for me. I will just keep calling him Martin. I congratulate Martin Hughes and I am delighted to have him on board. If he is looking for an example of perfect discipline in the House, he should look towards me. He will see I obey all of the rules all of the time. The issue of the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear. Well said.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I will follow on from my colleague who spoke about social media. It has become an extremely toxic environment. We are all now used to the whipping-up of mass emails to us to support this, that or the other. The senders do not even do us the courtesy of referring to us by our names. They address us as "Dear Deputy" or "Dear Oireachtas Member". I am not a Deputy; I am a Senator and I am...

Seanad: Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation: Statements (24 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: How do I follow that wonderful piece of publicity for Fianna Fáil? My good God, it was amazing - a history lesson along with all of the compliments. This is the first time I have addressed the Minister since he took over the Department. Slightly off the subject, as director of elections for my former good friend, Jim Gavin, I wish the Minister well as he heads out into the hustings...

Seanad: Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation: Statements (24 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I am nearly finished. I have always tried to work on the basis of not asking a question unless I had a fair idea of what the answer was going to be. Similarly, when it comes to the Minister's Department, I would like to see it come out of the doldrums of being the devil incarnate in the corner and be seen as somebody who is minding the State and looking after State resources.

Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen: Engagement with the Office of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank Mr. Justice Mahon for his report. As always, it is an excellent report covering a wide range of things. I will deal with a few issues. I will put them all to the ombudsman and he can decide how to handle them from there. The first one I will speak about is the IRG report. For me, this report was extremely distressing. One simple line said that a prima facie case had been found...

Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen: Engagement with the Office of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I do not want to stray into an area that may become an issue of litigation in the not-too-distant future.

Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen: Engagement with the Office of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: And the five-year contract-----

Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen: Engagement with the Office of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: That is it, yes. On the five-year contract, has anybody complained they are coming to the end of their contract and have not had an opportunity to go overseas or do a course and their career is about to come to an end?

Committee on Public Petitions and the Ombudsmen: Engagement with the Office of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I will finish on that. I thank Mr. Justice Mahon and his team for the meticulous work they do in supporting the Defence Forces and ensuring those who feel aggrieved have a final port of call without going down the route of litigation or anything like that. I thank Mr. Justice Mahon and his team for their time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs: Inshore Fishing: National Inshore Fishermen's Association (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Can I check that the Chairman can hear me?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs: Inshore Fishing: National Inshore Fishermen's Association (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I am sitting in my office in Leinster House 2000. I am sorry I did not come down, but I am trying to get some other work done as well. What I have got to say is fairly short and sweet. From the time we joined the European Union, I have seen fishermen thrown under the bus time and again. I have seen harbours around the country that once had several trawlers in them slowly but surely...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs: Inshore Fishing: National Inshore Fishermen's Association (23 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: It was quite moving to hear from the three witnesses. There was an allegation made that the quotas had been moved to the south west. We need to examine that and I ask that we organise to have the Department in fairly quickly to deal with that issue.

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the members of RDFRA and thank them for that excellent presentation and update. I wish to put things in context if I can before I ask any questions. I was involved in, not RDFRA, but in what was the FCA back in my time. For the members of the committee who are not familiar with what went on at that time, on a Tuesday night in Galway where I lived, every crossroads had people...

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: I am interested in that question. There is one more issue I want to touch on briefly. On the issue of the most senior officer in the Reserve, I am of the view that we should be able to get at least one brigadier general and a couple of colonels out of the Reserve. If we were serious about it and regarded the organisation as a peer equal to the PDF, I do not see any reason why there could...

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: If the committee could go on, I will be back within 20 minutes or half an hour so could we delay the answers until then.

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: Can I just hold up Mr. Richardson for a second? Mr. Gargan mentioned he was with the 27th Infantry Battalion, so he is answerable to the PDF CO of that battalion. Is he then a peer equal with his fellow officers within the 27th battalion?

Committee on Defence and National Security: Update on Issues in the Reserve Defence Force: Discussion (25 Sep 2025)

Gerard Craughwell: It is important to put it on the record. Mr. Gargan made the point that reservists are an integral part of the unit in every way except where a unit is deploying overseas and the reservists cannot deploy. We have not protected reservists' employment with legislation yet. Let us say that we call up a member of the Reserve, for example one of the three in front of us. We will take Ms...