Results 5,281-5,300 of 5,918 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I wish to clarify a matter. Earlier I called for the Minister to come to the House, but this was in no way a slight or insult to the Minister of State. The Minister has been out and about on the airwaves speaking about how confident he is and I would rather see him standing up his confidence here than putting the Minister of State in the firing line. I have every respect for her and the...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: There is a lot of repetition here. We have spent more than €500 million on meters which are not required.

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: We have spent more than €600 million on advertising, trying to sell a system which nobody wants. We are told Irish Water cannot be privatised without a plebiscite. The only plebiscite which means anything is a referendum which places ownership of Irish Water in the Constitution. Let us not play these silly games. No Minister, and not even the Taoiseach himself, can come in here and...

Seanad: Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Committee Stage (16 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: No.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I support Senators Ó Murchú and Cullinane on the issue of the Ballymurphy massacre. It is no secret that I carried a weapon for two armies in my life and I never carried a weapon without an instruction booklet in my pocket which informed me as to when I could and could not open fire. From what I heard this morning, there was an indiscriminate series of assassinations, which is all...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: -----and I would like us to have a full debate in this House on the matter. It gives me no pleasure to ask for a debate on Irish Water in this House. Water charges are an additional tax our citizens are being asked to pay and they have clearly refused to pay it. The figure of 43% in respect of those who have paid the charges is no great win for anybody. What is upsetting about this is the...

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Perhaps it is. The bottom line is that we need independent people. Having served as president of a teachers' union, I know that without a general secretary on whose independence I could always rely-----

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Yes. I have actually had ten. This is my eleventh career.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Without an independent adviser, I could not have moved forward. I ask that we take more care in bringing in these Bills.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Form a group

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I think the relevant figure is 6%.

Seanad: One-Parent Family Payment: Motion (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: One-Parent Family Payment: Motion (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: There is a seat over here.

Seanad: One-Parent Family Payment: Motion (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Humphreys, for being patient. I would like to begin my contribution to this debate by referring to a section of the website of the Department of Social Protection on which a number of ready reckoners are set out. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that four of the seven examples given on the website show lone parents losing money as a result...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas (Appointments to Certain Offices) Bill 2014: Second Stage (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will not delay him long other than to say that, as a member of a trade union and a trade unionist who has spent the past 20 years of my life trying to rid this country of the scourge of fixed-term contracts, zero-hours contracts and all sorts of other contracts where people, unfortunately teachers, found themselves working in schools more hours...

Seanad: Houses of the Oireachtas (Appointments to Certain Offices) Bill 2014: Second Stage (15 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Well said.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: With Senator Leyden in mind.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: I hope.

Seanad: Order of Business (14 Jul 2015)

Gerard Craughwell: Did it move?