Results 5,741-5,760 of 5,765 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

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...

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: On a point of order, I am appalled by what happened here this morning. Fifteen minutes of our valuable time has been lost. The Minister is now gone.

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: Some 150,000 people marched at the weekend.

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: I would appreciate it-----

Seanad: Irish Water: Statements (5 Nov 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: -----if those on this side of the House were allowed to finish what they have to say.

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Oct 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I am here to support Senator Norris's Bill but I did not intend to speak on it. The longer I was listening to the contributions, the more frustrated I became with what I was hearing. It seems that everybody in this House agrees we need a solution. Everybody in this House agrees that what Senator Norris has produced is a solution - maybe a...

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Oct 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: With all due respects, Senator Conway is saying:" Hear, hear" but at the same time he is knocking -----

Seanad: Immigration (Reform) (Regularisation of Residency Status) Bill 2014: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Oct 2014)

Gerard Craughwell: We should be working together to solve this problem. We should be doing it straight away. We should be giving these people hopes and dreams. I apologise for calling them "these people", they are our brother and sisters. We talk about technical issues. I am not long enough in this House to understand filibustering, but to me that is what is happening