Results 4,721-4,740 of 5,918 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Following on from Senator Daly's contribution, I attended a conference on Brexit in Brussels last week, a central part of which was the need to develop a European army. I recall making the statement at the time that if the EU moves to do that another country, namely, Ireland, will be exiting Europe. I am calling on the Leader today to discuss with the Minister for Public and Expenditure and...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: -----on how to find its way in the public service and resolve the problems therein.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Last week, I called on the Leader to arrange a debate on the Defence Forces' preparedness for Brexit. Two days later I attended the conference of the Permanent Defence Force Other Ranks Representative Association, PDFORRA, in Cork. Our Defence Forces are in a state of crisis. We heard in Cork about a soldier on parade who wore a non-issued pair of boots. He had to buy them himself because...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: It might be mine because it controls my hearing aid. I am sorry about that.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Yes. The House must have a debate on the Defence Forces with the Minister. It is a crisis situation. The Defence Forces are below strength at present and that cannot continue. The Defence Forces have no voice aside from their representative bodies. They have nobody to speak for them and no industrial relations process open to them other than through their representative bodies. As a...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: Is there anything local about that?

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Oct 2016)

Gerard Craughwell: No doubt Senator Coghlan will be at the opening.

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,...