Results 4,561-4,580 of 5,750 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: It is a short distance from Senator Coghlan's house.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: With a fiver a week? Go away.

Seanad: Budget 2017: Statements (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Contrary to what my colleague, Senator Gerry Horkan, has just said, the world and its mother knows this is the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independent Alliance budget.

Seanad: Budget 2017: Statements (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Let us not play games. At the end of the day, the Minister of State would not be sitting here unless Fianna Fáil agreed with the budget put before us today. Before I deal with the budget, I will deal with the issue which led up to it, namely the 2016 general election. Whether the Minister of State likes it or not, the Fine Gael Party, and to a certain degree other parties in this...

Seanad: Budget 2017: Statements (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The bottom line is that the increase is not great. The threshold figure for the new income tax rebate on the home-to-buy scheme comes to €400,000. I believe, along with many others, that this scheme will overheat the housing market again. I have evidence myself of a builder who has completed houses, ready to go on the market but he is holding them back in the expectation of an...

Seanad: Action Plan for Education: Statements (6 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: They must have different minutes in Cork from what we have here on the east coast.

Seanad: Action Plan for Education: Statements (6 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: No wandering from the issue.

Seanad: Action Plan for Education: Statements (6 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: It is most unusual. I thank the Minister for his most comprehensive reply. In accordance with the order of the Seanad today, the Seanad stands adjourned until 3.30 p.m. next Tuesday.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: General Affairs Council: Minister of State at Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (4 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his presentation. This is my first time to address him and it is a pleasure to do so. Listening to the soundings around Europe, I detect a hardening of positions towards the UK which concerns me greatly. Ireland continually talks about the relationship we have with the UK and about how precious it is to this island, which nobody can deny....

Seanad: Commencement Matters (Resumed): Trade Union Agreements (4 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for coming to take this matter. I am somewhat disappointed that no Minister from the Department of Health is here. This issue was raised by my colleague, Senator Devine, on an Order of Business. Indeed, she raised the matter with the Taoiseach when he was in the House last week. The Minister of State will be aware that in December 2015, the...

Seanad: Commencement Matters (Resumed): Trade Union Agreements (4 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State for his forthright answer. Indeed it is at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that this query was aimed. I am rather shocked by the response that has been drafted for the Minister of State by the Department.One must ask whether people at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform understand anything about industrial relations. An agreement...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I apologise to the Leader for the tongue lashing I gave him the other day on the issue of county councillors' pay and the notion that there might have been some sort of deal done in that regard on some Thursday night in a dark smokey room with his fellow Fine Gael Senators. The Minister set out his views in that regard on Friday last at the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA,...

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear. Well said, Leader.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Sep 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I support my colleague, Senator McDowell. We cannot have the courts held up. People are waiting years to bring cases before the courts. Now we are told we will have to wait for legislation which may take a year to get through this House. We cannot have the courts held up. If there is some agreement in place, then it should be published. In the meantime, we need an interim agreement...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Sep 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Of course it is about the leadership of Fine Gael. When the two boys are finished playing it out, I hope the Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, will enjoy her new role as Taoiseach.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Sep 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I totally agree.

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Sep 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I would be delighted.

Seanad: Address by An Taoiseach (Resumed) (29 Sep 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: The Taoiseach is welcome to the House and it is a great pleasure to address him here today. I thank him for his attendance. I first wish to join my colleagues on the nomination of Senator Lawless. I was one of the first people who was sceptical about it, even though I knew Senator Lawless was a good Galway man. It took a brave Mayo man to bring in a Galway man. The Mayo men came down the...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Sep 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Cathaoirleach and Leader back after our short break. I look forward to working with the Leader during the coming session. In the previous Seanad, I spoke in favour of former Senator Crown's Bill relating to the issue of forced retirements on a particular day just because one happened to pass a birthday. Unfortunately, that Bill did not complete its progress. I have received...

Seanad: Finance (Certain European Union and Intergovernmental Obligations) Bill 2016: Second Stage (28 Sep 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: I have just checked and the Minister of State does not necessarily have to provide a copy.