Results 741-760 of 5,754 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Decarbonisation Strategy for Aviation and Shipping Sectors: Minister of State at the Department of Transport (12 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Sorry, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, do I get a chance to ask any questions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Decarbonisation Strategy for Aviation and Shipping Sectors: Minister of State at the Department of Transport (12 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I appreciate that. I had a couple of things I had to deal with.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Decarbonisation Strategy for Aviation and Shipping Sectors: Minister of State at the Department of Transport (12 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Thank you very much, a Leas-Chathaoirligh. The Minister of State is welcome to the committee. He is new in the job, so I am not aiming any of my comments in particular directly at him. When we talk about aviation, sustainability and all of these things, as far as I am concerned, that includes everything from the moment I leave my house until I am in the air. I am really disturbed by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Decarbonisation Strategy for Aviation and Shipping Sectors: Minister of State at the Department of Transport (12 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I think the Leas-Chathaoirleach will find that SAR is both aviation and maritime.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Decarbonisation Strategy for Aviation and Shipping Sectors: Minister of State at the Department of Transport (12 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I do not intend to discuss the court case. I did say to the Minister of State that I expect him to respond to me outside the meeting. We are entitled to a response. The SAR issue is before the courts, as my colleague has pointed out. The issue is that for two and a half years, we tried to get officials from the Minister of State's Department to come before the committee and answer...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Decarbonisation Strategy for Aviation and Shipping Sectors: Minister of State at the Department of Transport (12 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Maybe the decarbonisation might come in the SAR area from the new contract for AW189 helicopters, which we were told a year ago were not suitable for the Irish situation. I am going to leave it at that because it is not fair on the Minister of State, who is only new in the job. I ask him to come back to me with answers. I do not expect them to be given here, in a public forum.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Decarbonisation Strategy for Aviation and Shipping Sectors: Minister of State at the Department of Transport (12 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: The Department has been very forward-thinking in some areas, such as with the introduction of electric buses. Then somebody drops the ball and we find there are no charging points. There are 100 buses that cannot be used at the moment. I do not know who is responsible for these things, but they point to a failure on our part, as members of the committees, to exercise oversight. The reason...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I am calling for a full investigation into the Irish Prison Service, particularly in the area of bullying and harassment. Some weeks back, I mentioned the case of Sean O'Brien, who was involved in an IRA prison escape in Portlaoise. That man has spent 20 years of his life trying to get information on what happened on that day. He is severely traumatised and the Prison Service is totally...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Engagement with the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Gentlemen, thank you very much for coming in and delivering what must be one of the most depressing presentations we had in this room for quite some time. I will start on a positive note. I was in Islandbridge at the weekend for the remembrance ceremony. The RDF provided the tents, food service, etc. I met five of the most enthusiastic young people I have ever encountered in my life. Two...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Engagement with the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I would like to provide some statistical background to the destruction of the Reserve Defence Force. I would like to see statistics for the distribution throughout the country and membership numbers of the Reserve Defence Force prior to 2013, for example, in 2012, and to look at it in 2022, ten years later, to see whether we can put a face to the destruction of the force. Mr. Gargan quite...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Engagement with the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I think the answer I would have got to that was that we do not talk about them here. I would have been told to get my backside over there to the recruit block.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Engagement with the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Mr. Cooney mentioned the rotund cybersecurity people. I am speaking as a member of that community myself.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Engagement with the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Cyber is now the greatest threat across the globe. To have RDF members, irrespective of their bodily shapes, trained up and ready to roll the moment we are the subject of a serious cyberattack. We have to be aware that cyberattacks are happening all day, every day. Has a proposal been put to the Department to set up a cyber group within the Reserve in this regard? We refer to it as the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Engagement with the Reserve Defence Force Representative Association (11 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pension Provisions (6 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I will raise a number of issues about pensions in An Post. It appears the company is not complying with legislation. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications must investigate to ensure good corporate governance. More than 3,000 of the current pensioners are ex-civil servants who were transferred to An Post on its vesting day, 1 January 1984. They were given a firm...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pension Provisions (6 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I realise the Minister of State’s script was written before I made the points I made earlier. I repeat: An Post is repudiating section 46(4) of the Post and Telegraphs Service Act 1983 and it has no legislative authority to reinterpret the intent of the Act. It should be complying with section 29(2) of the Pension (Increase) Act 1964 and regulations made under that Act, namely SI 381...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Pension Provisions (6 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: That is very much appreciated.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: They might like to visit Galway instead of Kerry.