Results 2,261-2,280 of 5,964 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

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

Gerard Craughwell: I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, between lines 8 and 9, to insert the following: “ “Act of 2010” means the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010;”. The Minister is welcome back to the House. I acknowledge her as a decent and hard-working Minister who has done a great deal for this country since the pandemic hit and before it in her previous ministerial...

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

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister has brought forward a fine Bill and I am sorry that my two amendments are the only ones. I sincerely hope that they do not overshadow the fantastic work that the Minister and her officials have done in the horrendous times in which we live. I have no regrets about bringing forward this amendment because the matter has to be debated. I am honoured that all of my colleagues in...

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 Section 14 of the Act of 2010 is repealed.”.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 (15 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I support Senator Wall on the commission for defence. If the terms of reference does not include the Department then I do not know what the function of the review or the commission will be. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get it right so we need everything, including the Department, involved. I know the Cathaoirleach is deeply concerned, as am I, with community employment...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (14 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister to the House and join colleagues in congratulating her, her predecessor and her officials. Without doubt they have taken on a mammoth task and performed above and beyond the call of duty. It was amazing to hear the Minister outline the figures. Figures tend to baffle people, and we tend to switch off when we hear them, but today she delivered them well, and they give...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2020: Second Stage (14 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I called for a rapporteur's report to be prepared by the committee.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Developments in Georgia: Engagement with Ambassador of Georgia (10 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the ambassador and thank him for his comprehensive presentation. He stated that the Middle East is an extremely complex area. I sometimes wonder, and I am not sure the ambassador will respond to this, if it would be a better and more peaceful world if the powerful countries in the west took their noses out of the Middle East and allowed the Middle East to find its own equilibrium....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Developments in Georgia: Engagement with Ambassador of Georgia (10 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I will come to the question. I believe that people just want to live. The ambassador referred to the terrorists operating in the region. Last week, we heard from the Palestinians about people being afraid to go to bed at night. I wonder about rockets being fired into Israel. We have not heard that story and I would be interested to hear something about that. On the issue of terrorists...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (3 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: To follow up on what Senator Chambers said, we need a wider discussion on those who are in training. The legal profession and the accounting profession exploit people to the very last during their training periods. We need to look after student nurses but we must also examine internships and training periods in which people are exploited. I would like to thank the Leader's office....

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Community Employment Schemes (2 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I think it is my first time addressing him since his elevation, so I congratulate him on that. I have been asked to raise this matter by Councillor Ben Brennan from Laois, but I know that the matter will interest a number of people around the country. It specifically concerns community employment, CE, schemes and those on them who are...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Community Employment Schemes (2 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State for his response. I appreciate it. Community employment schemes have been the poor relation. One only has to look at the way the supervisors on these schemes have been treated down through the years. The Minister of State was not in office to oversee that. I visited a community employment scheme in Wexford during the summer and it was amazing to see men aged...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: Following the controversy over a tweet from Deputy Brian Stanley, who I consider to be a good and decent man, I have thought long and hard about what I am about to say this morning. In 40 years of the Northern Irish Troubles, over 3,500 people were killed in conflict; 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces and 16% were members of paramilitary groups. There is no...

Seanad: Planning and Development Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (2 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: My colleague, Senator Boyhan, has made the case for all of us. I recall the first day the Luas track opened in Leopardstown. I waited for the Luas to arrive to go into town. An elderly lady came up to me and said, "Isn't it marvellous that the Harcourt Street line is open again for business?" In thinking about the Bill and public consultation, I found myself thinking about planners. The...

Seanad: Technological Universities Agenda: Statements (2 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I am not a spokesman. As I am an independent Senator, I do not take a spokesmanship but I will speak on this matter.

Seanad: Technological Universities Agenda: Statements (2 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister is very welcome to the House. Massachusetts Institute of Technology is world-renowned. Nobody ever had to call it a university. I was president of the Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, when we started the technological university drive. I was not convinced. I am still not convinced we need to refer to these institutions as universities. The previous speaker, Senator Byrne,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I second Senator Boyhan's proposal that No. 24, motion 8, on the Order Paper be taken before No. 1. I join colleagues in expressing my deep disappointment with respect to the Finucane murder. It is important to remember that Pat Finucane was the highest profile person killed in Northern Ireland through collusion but there were hundreds of others, and a truth commission in Northern Ireland...

Seanad: Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Second Stage (1 Dec 2020)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister to the House. I believe this is the first time I have met him in this House as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Ordinarily, I would be screaming to the high heavens as we try to rush Bills through the House but I fully understand where the Minister is coming from on this one. At the outset, I wish to pay him a compliment personally. Every time we have hit a bump in the...