Results 4,561-4,580 of 5,918 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Implications for Good Friday Agreement of UK Referendum Result: Discusssion (Resumed) (12 Jan 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: I will try to be brief. I thank the witnesses for coming here today. I read their submission before they came and had an idea they were going to open up an entire can of worms. They have thrown the elephant into the middle of the room. Their presentation is about the relationship with the Twenty-six Counties in the South and the relationship with the UK. That is really what it is about....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Implications for Good Friday Agreement of UK Referendum Result: Discusssion (Resumed) (12 Jan 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the witnesses for their presentations. It is great to see a civil society group take such an interest in this issue. I am not too sure whether Brexit is a hard or a soft exit will make much of a difference to what is actually going to happen. I was a little concerned about the reference in the submission to there being an over-emphasis on working with the UK, or with the English in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Implications for Good Friday Agreement of UK Referendum Result: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The delegates are more than welcome. They come from one of my favourite parts of the world. Warrenpoint is absolutely beautiful. I love the place and the drive right up into Newcastle. It is a wonderful place. I have a lovely photograph from the 1930s of my father up there. He was a chauffeur. My mother never asked why his favourite song was "My Lagan Love". She was from Mayo. I do...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Implications for Good Friday Agreement of UK Referendum Result: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I will try to keep out of politics. Bearing in mind the joint venture, in respect of which reference was made to Cavan, Down, Armagh and Louth, I believe the whole arrangement would be so unworkable in the event of a hard border. There will be no solution other than a hard border if Brexit proceeds at the rate it is going. I can see nothing but a hard border ahead of us. That would be...

Seanad: Registration of Wills Bill 2016: Second Stage (14 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: When is it proposed to take Committee Stage?

Seanad: Registration of Wills Bill 2016: Second Stage (14 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: When is it proposed to sit again?

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I join Senator Bacik in congratulating the British House of Lords on an excellent report on Brexit and UK-Irish relations, which makes some excellent suggestions. For those who have not read the report, I recommend that they do. I was somewhat disappointed as I felt that more people would have been interested in meeting the delegation from the House of Lords. I understand they had...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Not yet.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: More than 180 amendments have been tabled.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: There are no further amendments allowed at that Stage anyway. Is that correct?

Seanad: Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2016: First Stage (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I second the motion.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I move amendment No. 1: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 the European Parliament (Irish Constituency...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: There are plenty of people here who will second it.

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: As I pointed out on Committee Stage, and as the Minister has pointed out, nobody would buy an insurance policy which they could never draw down. Class K PRSI is just this. It is an insurance policy for which every Member of the Oireachtas, many in the public service and those who have unearned income are forced to pay 4% of their income and they get precisely nothing for it. I ask the...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister for his somewhat expected answer. He is correct that class K was introduced in 2011 as our way of showing – God help us and save us – that we are suffering like the ordinary working man and paying 4% of our salary and getting nothing for it. We were smart enough, however, to allow for voluntary contributions so we could still get the contributory old age...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: At the end of the day, we have to stop being afraid of what the people will think. We saw recently that members of An Garda Síochána got a miserable settlement to bring them somewhat close to where they should be. What did they do then? Two days later, they came out and said a garda is worth €100,000 per year. This has to stop. We should stop pandering to the popular...

Seanad: Social Welfare Bill 2016: Report and Final Stages (13 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I will not take up too much time. When is a property right a property right? Is it a property right when you are a retiring politician who is entitled to walk away with your pension untouched regardless of what disaster comes our way? Is that a property right? Is it a property right when a person joins an organisation like Independent News and Media newspapers as a copyist at 16 years of...

Seanad: Cystic Fibrosis Treatment: Statements (8 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The very fact that the Minister is in the Chamber today shows his commitment and his concern for this issue of Orkambi. I compliment the Minister for being present because, very often, senior Ministers send along a junior Minister to one of these events. Clearly, he is concerned. Professor Michael Barry spoke on Morning Ireland about a week ago. It is an extremely difficult thing for a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Member States' Position on UK Withdrawal from EU: Maltese Ministry for Foreign Affairs (7 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Ms Mizzi is very welcome to Dublin. I thank her for her very informed presentation. I am concerned about a number of issues. I am aware there was a pre-EU bilateral agreement between Malta and the UK. It has been a central plank of the 27 member states that there would be no bilateral negotiations with the UK. I am not sure whether that is more about teaching the UK a lesson for being...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Member States' Position on UK Withdrawal from EU: Maltese Ministry for Foreign Affairs (7 Dec 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: One of the common features we encounter when talking to people from the member states is the issue of the Single Market. The Single Market seems to work very well in the areas of agriculture and fisheries and in various other sectors. Ms Mizzi cannot have missed - perhaps she did - the crowd outside the gates of Leinster House today protesting in respect of the drug Orkambi. We had similar...