Results 3,181-3,200 of 5,749 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Annual National Transition Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Other people are due to speak. I call Senator O'Reilly.

Seanad: Annual National Transition Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: The Senator is over time.

Seanad: Annual National Transition Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Senator.

Seanad: Annual National Transition Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I call Senator Humphreys. He has eight minutes.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I will also oppose the amendment. This is a good, strong section. Small employers are no different from anybody else. They should have systems in place and when they take on employees, it should be standard from the one-man operation right up to the large multinationals. Senator Higgins adverted to the fact that some companies have large numbers of employees and many of them are...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I support the Minister on this. The way forward is to let the committee deal with it. I cannot see anything coming out of a report after the first 12 months and quite a lot of time and effort would need to be expended on providing nothing. The legislation will take two years to bed in so I agree with allowing the committee to discuss it, maybe after two years.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I was not saying the report would be frivolous in any way, just that I do not see how a report after 12 months would work, something on which I agree with Senator Nash. The committee is the place to establish whether this legislation is working. Any of the representative bodies can make contact with the Chair of the relevant committee and seek a hearing if they feel the Act is not working.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: One of the aspects specific to language schools is that so many people working in language schools have been badly hurt by the sharp practices that are operated by these cowboys. Perhaps it does not come under this legislation but I ask the Minister to look at how we might bond workers through any of these companies in order that if such a company decides to close overnight - as happened...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I fully support Senator Humphrey's remarks. A similar issue arose with the Clerys group during the previous Government, and the Government acted quickly in that case. I acknowledge my two colleagues from the Labour Party, who were quick on the ball that time. As Senator Humphreys said, tomorrow morning those teachers need to see somebody from the Department who will be present and will...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I support the amendment. From my time being involved in the Teachers Union of Ireland, I know it was an issue that caused significant distress to teachers who were employed in professional posts for four or five hours a week. Since they only taught a specific subject they could be kept on that for years. It always amazed me that employers, particularly education and training boards, would...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister mentioned the working time directive. The State is one of the worst culprits in that regard. The Defence Forces have 35 cases before the High Court and the most recent case cost the State €200,000 in legal fees and a five-figure sum to settle the case, which was the seventh. There are 35 more cases in train and there will be further multiples of 35 coming after them....

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I appreciate what the Minister is trying to do but if she takes a worker who is on 26 hours, the question arises as to whether he or she is in band E or band F. It reminds me of when I did some computer programming, I was quite amused to find that there are two values of zero. There is a minus zero and a plus zero from the point of view of computer programming. An employer could reasonably...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Ryanair is probably one of the best examples of people being allegedly self-employed, even thought they are on very good salaries. It denies revenue to the State and so on. It works its way down through the system. One computer manufacturer in this country had about 6,000 employees, with not one working for the company. Most recently I have heard of builders' labourers being told after...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: And cabin crew.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Committee Stage (4 Dec 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I am happy to say that I am unlikely to meet anyone in the hair business who is bogus self-employed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: 2018 State of the Union Address and Related Matters: European Commission Representation in Ireland (28 Nov 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank Mr. Kiely for making himself available to us again. The European project has been the greatest success in modern history but also, in some ways, the greatest failure. The success is in the way every aspect of Irish life has developed and changed in the 45 or so years in which we have been members. The benefit to this country has been phenomenal. The failure is that it has become a...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I congratulate Senator Black and her colleagues on bringing forward this Bill. As has been pointed out, it is not about two countries but rather an illegally occupied area. I do not necessarily condemn everything done by Israel as it is entitled to protect itself. It has rockets coming over the border from Hamas but the response is sometimes above and beyond anything that would be...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Nov 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I join with others who have mentioned the damage to the sculpture in St. Stephen's Green this morning. When I joined the British Army and arrived in the depot of the Royal Irish Rangers, one of the things one had to learn was the battle honours of the regiment. The battle honours of the regiment included the battle honours of the Connaught Rangers. It included the Royal Dublin Fusiliers...

Seanad: Brexit: Motion (22 Nov 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank my colleague, Senator Marshall, for facilitating me. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach, the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and the former Minister of State with responsibility for European affairs, Deputy Dara Murphy. A wonderful job has been done. In congratulating the political side of Irish life, I must also take time to...