Results 3,681-3,700 of 5,873 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Report on Credit Union Sector: Statements (9 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I doubt if I will need eight minutes, as my colleague has covered most of the issues. I was, however, involved on the board of a credit union. In recent years there seems to have been an effort to force amalgamations, downsize the number of credit unions and almost restrict them to the point where they cannot operate. The report provides a way forward and is something at which we need to...

Seanad: Local Government Accountability Bill 2018: Second Stage (9 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State and support the Bill. As a co-signatory, I consider it to be a measure that will support and strengthen local democracy. I often refer to the outstanding and unacknowledged work city and county councillors do on behalf of the people who elect them. Not only are councillors the cornerstone of our democracy, the issues with which they deal encompass every...

Seanad: Local Government Accountability Bill 2018: Second Stage (9 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Our treatment has not been kind to them either. I agree with my colleagues, in that we must review the situation and ensure that councillors get the highest level of service. One councillor told me that they could not go to the pub toilet without someone raising a query. That is what being a councillor is about. I have never suffered it, thank God, but I understand the theory behind it....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Union Enlargement: Discussion (Resumed) (9 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: The ambassador is very welcome and I thank him for his presentation. Deputy Durkan and I do not agree fully on the benefits of expansion in Europe. I believe there is a point at which diminishing marginal returns from expansion kick in. Any expansion which takes place must be managed carefully and to the benefit of the Union rather than of the applying state. As to the issue of peace, I...

Seanad: Order of Business (8 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Last week, I spoke about the need for us to get behind or beneath the Ministers when disasters like the cervical screening disaster take place. I explained how the Carltona doctrine or principles allow public servants, including those who took decisions and hid information in this case, to remain faceless. I want to see Tony O'Brien go, but there are other people who need to go too. If he...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill 2017: Second Stage (8 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister to the House. I will be supporting the Bill and I congratulate the Minister on bringing it forward. I am struck that since the onset of the financial crisis and the passage of two major corruption tribunal reports, particularly those of Mahon and Moriarty, white-collar crime prosecutions are sorely lacking in this country while the number of offences that have been...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Corruption Offences) Bill 2017: Second Stage (8 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: It would probably be the Dáil electorate.

Seanad: Civil Law (Costs in Probate Matters) Bill 2017: Second Stage (8 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I second the Bill. If ever there was a truism, it is that where there is a will, there are relations. We have all heard horror stories. I recall one story from the Minister of State's neck of the woods of a man who owned a farm and had two daughters but no son. Living some distance from him was another family with the same family name but unrelated to him. He called to them and asked the...

Seanad: Civil Law (Costs in Probate Matters) Bill 2017: Second Stage (8 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Cork is a queer place.

Seanad: Corporate Manslaughter: Statements (8 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State for taking this debate. I have huge sympathy for the Bill. For the past fortnight I have been speaking about political responsibility overshadowing those who took decisions that led to events such as the cervical cancer screening disaster, the hepatitis C scandal and various others in the past 25 to 30 years, with which we are familiar. There has been a...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Recent history should teach those of us in political life some lessons about taking responsibility for the actions of others. Ministers have come under pressure in recent times on a number of high-profile cases such as the blood transfusion anti-D cases, which affected 100,000 women. In 1991 the blood transfusion board was alerted by British hospitals that a batch of anti-D produced in 1977...

Seanad: Order of Business (3 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I wonder how quick the action would have been if the same slip-ups had occurred in respect of prostate tests. I ask for an open and honest debate on governance within the public sector.

Seanad: Message from Joint Committee (3 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: The Joint Committee on Health at its meeting today has completed its consideration of the following order passed by the Seanad on 25 April 2018:(i) Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (Section 95(3)) (Variation of title: Dietician) Regulations 2018, and (ii) Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (Section 95(3)) (Variation of title: Speech Therapist) Regulations 2018....

Seanad: Childcare Support Bill 2017: Committee Stage (3 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Amendments Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: Childcare Support Bill 2017: Committee Stage (3 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Amendments Nos. 4 and 5 are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: Childcare Support Bill 2017: Committee Stage (3 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 are related and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Seanad: CervicalCheck Screening Programme: Statements (3 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I thank him for having the courage to face this issue. People sometimes accuse me of being nice to Ministers, but it cannot have been easy to go out day after day and take on the responsibility for what has happened. More importantly, during his speech today he told us of being handed last-minute information minutes before going into the...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: That is the last thing he wants.

Seanad: Order of Business (1 May 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: I join colleagues in welcoming two fine Irishmen to the Seanad, namely, Senators Anthony Lawlor and Ian Marshall. They are more than welcome. I am sure we will hear from them and do battle over the coming months. The one thing I would say to them is, "Enjoy it." We have heard many Members today speak of Vicky Phelan. There are few words that can describe what must have gone through that...