Results 741-760 of 5,746 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

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.

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

Gerard Craughwell: I need to second the amendment to the Order of Business by Senator Keogan. The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, DPER, was set up to keep an eye on how we spend money in this country. If you want to hire a secretary now in the public service, its approval is required. Then we see RTÉ over the past couple of weeks being dragged in here and...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: Yesterday I spent the day in the University of Galway where we had a seminar on cyber security and the future. We are talking about cyber security in this country when artificial intelligence is coming down the road at a rate of knots. Really we need to up our game. On 15 June, Martin O'Brien, the chief executive officer of Louth & Meath Education and Training Board, launched a...

Seanad: Broadcasting (Restriction of Salaries) Bill 2023: Second Stage (5 Jul 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I congratulate the Minister on the work she has done so far. She has stepped up to the plate and called in the experts. I am proud to know her as my local TD. Fair play to her; she has done the job. Now that she has started the process, she needs to keep it going. I congratulate both of my colleagues on introducing this Bill which is timely and probably the right thing to do. I accept...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Jun 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: I rise today to congratulate the Government for a change on the forum put together by the Tánaiste, which starts in UCC tomorrow. I presume the Cathaoirleach will be there.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Jun 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: What a pity. It moves on to Galway and then has two days in Dublin. This forum has finally put the question of neutrality on the public agenda and the public are speaking about neutrality. One of the great problems I have is that many people in this House speak about a neutrality that does not exist and that has never been enshrined in either law or the Constitution. By the way, I would...

Seanad: Death of Former Member: Expressions of Sympathy (21 Jun 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: It is a great pleasure to be here to think about Mary Jackman with her family. Many is the good joust we had in Monaleen back in the days before I became enlightened and became an Independent by leaving Fine Gael. She was an incredible woman, a great citizen of Castletroy, Monaleen and Limerick in general. She was a great teacher in her time. I am deeply sorry that we lost her. She was a...

Seanad: Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages (21 Jun 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: You have to give them homework off.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (Resumed) (21 Jun 2023)

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister is welcome and I congratulate her on her return to work. Before I start, Senator Keogan and I would like to thank Free Speech Ireland for all of the work they have done over the past two years on this Bill. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed, especially those of Alex Sheridan and Sarah Hardiman. I will deal primarily with two points, the definition of hate and the issue of...