Results 4,421-4,440 of 5,750 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister has shown tremendous flexibility today on the voluntary contributions. There are some issues with respect to voluntary contributions. I may be wrong but I am of the opinion that most local authorities did not advise their elected members that they had the option to make a voluntary contribution. I know the Minister has ruled my amendment to be out of order. It relates to...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: It has been ruled out of order. I apologise to the Minister. Someone ruled it out of order, disgracefully.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: That is worse still.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I am making that point.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: It would be good if the option to make voluntary contributions were open to those who had been paying class K contributions if they cannot get their class K contributions recognised. Another issue relates to the lacunae that exist between Departments. For example, the Department of Education and Skills recognises that a person not involved in teaching between the period of June and...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I will have to wait until tomorrow.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Would I dare?

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Would I dare?

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I have one final point on the class S PRSI. I was contacted by a farmer recently who told me he is not being given his contributory old age pension because at some stage during his contributions to class S, he received some form of farm payment which means he is not eligible. It is an interesting situation. The Minister will not have an answer to that straight away but perhaps it is...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I move amendment No. 2:In page 7, to delete lines 17 to 20 and substitute the following:“(a) by the substitution of the following for the definition of “public office holder”:“ ‘public office holder’ means a member of the European Parliament for a constituency in the State, being a member who is in receipt of the salary specified in section 2(2) of...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: It is the amendment before this one.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The other one is section 2, amendment No. 3.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister is correct.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Class K PRSI is a tax on public service. That is the long and the short of it. One pays 4% and gets nothing for it. The Minister is on record as saying that nobody should pay for social insurance unless there is a benefit from it. It is a farce to say that Deputies, Senators and other people covered by class K PRSI cannot avail of a contributory old age pension. In my case I can make a...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The social welfare contributions for councillors over 66 years are being repealed. The point I was making was that they had been paying class K contributions for the past five or six years. I appreciate there is a problem with class K contributions. In 2013, class K was extended to all unearned income, which included things such as rental income, income from shareholdings, dividends and so...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Committee Stage (6 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I will withdraw my amendment and give the Minister a chance to discuss it with the two Ministers in question. He may come back with a change of mind. I will resubmit it on Report Stage. If the Minister is not in a position to do anything, I will not delay the proceedings and will withdraw it immediately.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I echo Senator Wilson's request. It would be the right and decent thing to do. Brexit brings many problems to the UK and Ireland. Communities on all sides on this island are going to have to learn to work together to deal with some of them. Some of the utterances that have come out of Leinster House from all parties and none in recent months are a matter of some concern to me. It is no...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: We must recognise that there are two traditions in the North of Ireland and the peace is fragile enough. Let us not give it any reason to become in any way endangered.

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Ms Nicola Sturgeon (29 Nov 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The First Minister is welcome. It has been said that Prime Minister Theresa May will give Scotland anything it wants but independence in the Brexit negotiations. My concern is for the other jurisdiction on this island, which is the North. Some would like to think this will hasten Irish unification. I do not believe this is necessarily so, but my concern is that Scotland's goodies from...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I wish to raise the HPV vaccine. In this State and also in the UK we have a history of burying our heads in the sand when there are issues with various drugs - Thalidomide comes to mind. We suddenly at some stage find we are in serious trouble, the drug is withdrawn and then there are legal battles lasting years. Anecdotal evidence is arriving in my office on a daily basis. I do not court...