Results 5,721-5,740 of 5,752 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Commemoration Planning: Statements (13 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I compliment the Minister on the document produced today. It is not too late; in fact, it is rather timely. Sometimes, if the lead-in is too long, we can miss some of the important issues. Last year we saw commemorations of the 1913 Lock-out. When I attended the events at the GPO, the general public were incensed at being left standing outside for over 45 minutes while a few dignitaries...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: When the Deputy Leader uses Scotland as an example, she should be aware that schools there pulled out of the system.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I want to address the issue of teachers as addressed by Senator Paschal Mooney. We are at a very delicate stage in negotiations between both sides which have moved a considerable distance such that not a lot divides them. I would hate anything to be said by anybody at this stage that would derail what are very sensitive negotiations. The teachers of Ireland have driven the economy to where...

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister of State has referred to the fact that the Taoiseach will put a group together to consider this issue. I am naturally suspicious of groups put together by anybody, anywhere, anytime. Should a group be put together, it must include Members of this House and, second, the names of the proposed members must be placed before us to be debated. For far too long decisions have been...

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: That is outrageous.

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I beg the Minister of State's forgiveness as with my novice status, I forgot to recognise him formally. I agree with Senator White. I only needed nine politicians to sign a nomination form and it took me the best part of 12 weeks to get them so I cannot begin to understand how difficult it must be to get past the most discerning group of politicians one would ever find. I would not...

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: We should be examining the process of educationalists and people involved with culture electing people to the education and cultural panel. People involved with the trade union movement and in business should be involved with the labour panel, for example. Those involved with agriculture should have a say in who is elected to the agricultural panel. I would like to see some reform of the...

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I am broadly in support of the notion of a Bill to reform the Seanad, although I have some serious difficulties with some of what is in this Bill. We are probably suffering from an Irish problem, which is that if we have not got it right first time we put it back on the shelf and wait 40 years before taking it down again and brushing the dust off it. Anybody who has ever been at school...

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2013: Committee Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: Having recently been elected to the Seanad I saw just how difficult it was even to get a nomination. My election was no triumph of democracy, it was a triumph of pragmatism. At the end of the day I thank God for that pragmatism, but if we are going to reform the Seanad let us start by tearing this Bill to pieces, rebuilding it and making it into something we can all work with.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Permanent TSB (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I will go back to the issue of tracker versus variable mortgage rates. Mr. Masding should correct me if I am wrong. One could have two next door neighbours working at exactly the same job, in exactly the same value home, with exactly the same mortgage, with one on a variable rate and the other on a tracker rate, and the difference in repayment could range to several hundred euro per month,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Permanent TSB (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I will make one last point. Mr. Masding spoke about the bank's loan-to-value rates and where the value is higher than the loan, there is a reduced rate available. He has worked on that. Is that something the bank will offer to its traditional variable rate mortgage holders? Will the bank now review those who are on variable rate mortgages and accept that it needs to help them by cutting...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Overview of Banking Sector: Permanent TSB (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: Has Mr. Mitchell any opinion with respect to the suggested 20% deposit when it comes to purchasing a new property?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Further Education and Training Strategy: Discussion (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I wish to address something that Mr. Lavelle mentioned. I omitted to compliment the community education and adult education systems, which do a fantastic job in preparing people. Ms Hartley pointed out that SOLAS had yet to discover a matrix by which it could measure non-certified programmes. We all agree that, for a fair percentage of people, non-certified programmes lead on to certified...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection: Further Education and Training Strategy: Discussion (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the delegations. I am sorry I had to leave, but there was a division in the Seanad. It is no secret that I am a product of the further education sector and that I am always looking over my shoulder at the staff of the old VEC schools who gave us the sector we have today. The system was not planned and grew organically. We owe a significant amount to teachers and principals,...

Seanad: Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Fifth Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I voted against this Bill at an earlier Stage and find it regrettable that it has proceeded this far through the House. We should be very careful in our dealings with the academic institutions of this country. With negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ongoing, we are opening the door to foreign institutions coming here. In addition, while I accept the...

Seanad: Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I support Senators Barrett and Quinn. I have grave concerns about this Bill not specifying the educational institution I believe it has been designed to facilitate, namely, the Royal College of Surgeons. We already have one third-level institution in this country which is marketing its services on a for-profit basis and my fear is that some of the very high-powered international...

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: The teaching unions and the Minister for Education and Skills appear to be at odds with each other. I hope this problem will be rectified in the near future. Both sides have moved a considerable distance and I hope they will move the rest of the way. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on a scandal in the banking system. It appears a small number of mortgage holders, primarily those aged...

Seanad: Suicide and Mental Health: Statements (11 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: There is a song that contains the following lines: ... suicide is painless, It brings on many changes.There is no doubt it brings on changes, although sadly none of those who have committed it has come back to tell us whether it is painless. I refer to the 2013 guidelines Well-Being in Post-Primary Schools, which were jointly prepared by the Departments of Education and Skills and Health,...

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: Perhaps, but I want to bring the matter forward and I ask the Leader to give it priority. It affects not just the Tralee residents. My discussions with the HSE tell me it is a problem in most urban areas in the country. Lead was first recognised as a contaminant in 2000 BC, and we are talking about it today. I ask the Leader to provide time.

Seanad: Order of Business (11 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I join my colleagues in remembering Armistice Day. I personally visited the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Flanders, where I learned that a Craughwell and a Quigley both died on the same day in Childer Wood. My mother being a Quigley and my father a Craughwell, I found it rather ironic. Having worn a uniform for ten years in two armies, I believe politicians make war and soldiers die. I...