Results 5,141-5,160 of 5,752 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I support what is being said, although in approximately 20 years in the staffroom, nobody ever asked me if I was married. Maybe they thought I was not worth hitting on at the time.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I worked with a colleague who was in a same-sex relationship and she frequently spoke in the staffroom about the weekend they had and what they did and did not do. Sometimes, we can be afraid of things that are not there. However, I take the point that is being made, and maybe we need to make sure. Teachers do not care one way or another, and students could not care less.

Seanad: Employment Equality (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages (9 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: No, she should not.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: It is great to be able to read the minds of millions of people.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: The Senator can e-mail them tonight.

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Leader for setting aside the amount of time he has set aside today to discuss this. In thanking him, I cannot but express some disappointment over the number of people who have turned up in the Chamber today to add their voices to the debate. Many people in this House will be running around the country over the next few months trying to secure their seat for the next term, but...

Seanad: Report of Working Group on Seanad Reform 2015: Statements (8 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: A person might get the nomination, get out and meet whoever, but he or she will not get elected. It is that simple. I see the role of this House as assessing legislation and not representing local constituency issues. I do not see how there can be a constituency. There is no funding for a constituency and no suggestion that one is in any way representing any constituency at a local level....

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I will not go back over the same ground that most of my colleagues have covered. The Government had the essence of a good Bill and then somebody somewhere took the smart move to throw Irish Water and everything about it into the middle of it. As such, I do not believe anybody on this side of the House will support it, although I have no doubt that if we produce 100 amendments, it will be...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Second Stage (8 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Where in the world would one get it? I have written to the European Commission about the issue being transferred to Irish Water through the Department of Social Protection. It is a transfer of capital to a private utility company and is wrong in every sense of the word. I agree with what Senator Hayden had to say. I see nothing but problems when we try to deal with the issue of tenants....

Seanad: Conditions of Work: Motion (8 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister to the House. I congratulate him on some of the work he has done in recent times. There is no doubt that he is bringing employment into the country. I am concerned that we constantly look for big-ticket employment announcements by large companies, such as the Vodafone one today, which is, of course, tremendous.However, sometimes, particularly in rural Ireland, we...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: For the past number of days I have asked for an amendment to the Order of Business to the effect that the Minister for Social Protection be brought to the House to discuss the issue of lone parents. Yesterday I received a message from a supporter of one of the Government's parties, stating, "I think you want a culture of schoolgirls in gym frocks pushing prams and on social welfare for...

Seanad: Order of Business (2 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: On a point of order, will a press release be issued to inform those who have not been paid? They will not have money for the weekend.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Role of Special Needs Assistants: Discussion (1 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the witnesses and thank Senator Moran for her work in bringing this issue before the joint committee. Before I put my questions, I apologise to the witnesses as I must leave to attend another meeting before they respond. Senator Moran drew attention to the qualifications required to become a special needs assistant. What plans does the Department have to assist the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Role of Special Needs Assistants: Discussion (1 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: We have heard that special needs assistants have assumed behavioural, therapeutical, pedagogical, teaching and administrative roles. These things are happening and in fairness to the IMPACT representatives, they should be allowed to address these issues.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Role of Special Needs Assistants: Discussion (1 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: If a matter impacts on their role, the witnesses should be allowed to address it. Do the trade unions engage in in-service training or is an in-service training programme in place? What is the impact of fragmentation, that is, the allocation of a couple of hours' work here and a couple more hours' work elsewhere, on the role of special needs assistants? In the past, a special needs...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I rise once again to ask the Leader to amend the Order of Business to take No. 17 dealing with lone parents before No. 1 on the Order Paper today. I cannot understand for the life of me why the penny has not dropped with the Minister that the policy she is bringing in will wreak havoc on at least one third of the lone parents of this country. Time and again, I have asked that we bring the...

Seanad: Order of Business (1 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: She should explain the policy to the House, which is the democratic forum to explain her position. She should set out the numbers for us. Let us take a number of examples, set them out here and debate them in the House. She has not convinced the lone parents of this country and she has not convinced the social commentators. Let her try to convince us and perhaps we can then assist her in...