Results 3,001-3,020 of 5,749 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: Under Standing Order 62(3)(b)I request that the division be taken again other than by electronic means.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I will say a few words. This particular provision conjures up the notion of members of the commission hanging around the pillars of the Four Courts and asking various members of the Judiciary passing by if they can talk to them for a minute and if there is any chance they would take on the job of Chief Justice. As my colleague, Senator McDowell said, it is rather bizarre. I made the point...

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I call the Acting Leader to make an announcement.

Seanad: Gnó an tSeanaid - Business of Seanad (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for the positive approach he has taken in respect of the Bill. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the work put in by our former colleague, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, who went to TG4. The station's gain was Seanad Éireann's loss. He is a great man. I am not in any way denigrating the work put in by Senator Gavan on this Bill but...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: The bad employer pockets the €10 and it is gone. The people we are talking about are those to whom Senator Nash referred - students and individuals at the bottom end of the salary scale. Bad employers are making profits they should not make. Good employers always hand over the money. As a former trade union leader, I must be here to support this Bill in every way. I appreciate the...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: The research conducted by my colleagues in Sinn Féin in drafting the Bill made for some difficult reading. The incidence of tips not being passed on to staff is much higher than any of us would like to think. This is an important amendment and it provides an avenue for redress for employees whose rights have been breached under this legislation. As a former trade union leader, I find...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: Not knowing who gets it or where it goes is unsettling for everyone involved. I can even imagine how demotivating it must be for highly trained, committed and generous staff to have an important token of appreciation withheld from them. I fully support the amendment and hope the Minister of State sees fit to support it.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: Very, very briefly -----

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: We have all, at some stage, worked in the hospitality sector. We knew the abuses that went on with bad employers. In my youth, I worked in a hotel where staff had to work a week in hand and would be get paid at the end of the second week. The employer fired everyone on the Thursday of the second week-----

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: -----so he never had to pay us. The employer was renowned for it. There are great employers out there and we must recognise them. We were talking about students. I received letters from the president of the Union of Students of Ireland on this.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: There are great employers and we must recognise them. I hope that the amendment will be accepted.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: General Affairs Council: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (20 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I agree with much of what my colleague has said, but I would like to bring the focus back home. In 2016, the day after the referendum, I wrote an article on the re-establishment of a Border on this island. At the time, it was scoffed at by many as an impossibility. It is not quite so impossible now. I would like to know what steps has the Government taken to bring back the corporate...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: It has been brought to my attention that the Leader of this House believes the ongoing debate on the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017 is bringing the House into disrepute. It has been said that the almost 90 hours we have been debating the Bill has damaged the reputation of the Seanad.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: As I said, it has been said that the time debating this legislation has damaged the reputation of the Seanad and, by implication, the reputation of all Members of the Seanad. While I do not know where the Leader has formed this view or what papers he is reading, since the commencement of debate in the Seanad, the following bodies have expressed their views. The Council of Europe's Group of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: I have a question for the Leader. Are those of us doing our damnedest to oppose this legislation by scrutinising and trying to change it the enemy from within or is allowing one single elected Member of Dáil Éireann to fundamentally interfere with the central tenet of our democracy the enemy?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: We all know the political responsibilities and pressures that the Leader of this House has to endure to ensure the Government programme passes through it but for him to intertwine-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: By intertwining the fate or reputation of the Seanad with this legislation the Leader is being derogatory to the House.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Feb 2019)

Gerard Craughwell: Nobody reading the transcript of the 90 hours of debate or witnessing it live could fault the quality of what is being debated or the public service benefit-----