Results 101-120 of 152 for garda speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Order of Business (8 Mar 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: ...cannot jump into an aircraft and start flying. It will be five years before they are qualified to fly on their own and ten years before they are eligible to fly the Casa. We heard a lot about the Garda on the Order of Business today and I resent the manner in which we are watching it wash its dirty linen in public. Clearly, some people at the top have serious questions to answer but...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Feb 2018)

Gerard Craughwell: .... First, it would want to be a very lucky ricochet and second, the accidental discharge of the weapon is something that must be questioned and answered. An investigation was carried out by former Garda Commissioner Eugene Crowley and that report was handed to the then Minister for Justice in 1988. I listened to that man's family speak on a radio programme on Sunday morning. If nothing...

Seanad: Order of Business (7 Dec 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: I compliment the Taoiseach and thank him for being a man of his word. Yesterday we saw a joint exercise between the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána. That is to be welcomed. It is something I have been calling for for a long time. The exercise went very well and we owe compliments to the Chief of Staff and the members of the Defence Forces who showed themselves to be ready,...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 Nov 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: The truth of the matter is that recruits are walking out in droves. We have to do something. What is happening with the Garda is in the full glare of the public eye. What is happening in the Defence Forces is hidden behind closed doors. We have bought massive ships but do not have crews to sail them. We are discussing replacing or improving the armoured personnel carrier, APC, fleet but...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Nov 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ..., the officials of this country. What do they do when they get caught out? They retire and take off with their pensions. We need to investigate the question of ethics. We have had a senior garda walk out of a job with a pension into a fat job somewhere else in a policing authority, without any accountability for what took place under her stewardship. We have had similar stories in...

Seanad: Order of Business (22 Nov 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...possible to stifle an investigation. I will not mention either the case or the State agency involved, other than to say that even the investigations of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Garda are being frustrated by it. The approach that is always taken is to deny everything until it is necessary to make an admission and then go on a witch-hunt to try to find somebody to blame....

Seanad: Tracker Mortgages: Statements (22 Nov 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...the ordinary individual who has been struggling for some years while the banks have been screwing them having given them the wrong mortgage rate. On the collusion element, I want to know why An Garda Síochána are not in every single bank now. Why is the Director of Corporate Enforcement not looking at the directors of these banks? There are people on these boards to represent...

Seanad: Defence Forces (Veterans Lapel Badge) Bill 2017: Second Stage (22 Nov 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...service, air ambulance and assistance in natural disasters. The awarding of the veterans badge would also visibly recognise the work of our Defence Forces in assisting the civil powers, such as An Garda Síochána, in protecting the internal security of the State. During active service, many Defence Forces members are decorated with military medals. These are bestowed in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement: Legacy Issues Affecting Victims and Relatives in Northern Ireland: Discussion (Resumed) (9 Nov 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...able to say that we know what happened and now we are content, it is not that easy. I was confronted with this myself two weeks after I was elected to Seanad Éireann when I was contacted by the garda who had investigated threats that were made to me and my family. He suggested that I might like to know who had been involved in it, and that he had the files if I cared to speak to him...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Key Developments on European Agenda: Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Helen McEntee (9 Nov 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...Ireland is a neutral country. If there was an attempt to establish a European army, I would be the first person to shout, "Down with that sort of thing". Unfortunately, our security services, the Garda and the Defence Forces, wear two hats, a security and policing hat and a security and defence hat respectively. There is nothing wrong with greater integration in the security of Europe....

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Oct 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...man or woman enough to actually repay what they have taken. The Central Bank does not have sufficient powers to take these people on. More importantly, I believe we should be urging the acting Garda Commissioner to go in there and see exactly what happened. We need to know how it happened, when it happened, who took the decisions and who sanctioned them. We must get to the bottom of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Garda Pensions: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...take someone's pension than he can arbitrarily decide to take their house. He said that on 24 July 2015. On the issue before the committee today, and I have huge sympathy for these people, the Garda representative body, with the Department of Justice, negotiated a deal which dated back to 1 October 1976. I would argue before the committee that the Garda representative body did not...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 May 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...the National Security Committee which consists of six persons, four of whom are secretaries general of Departments, one of whom is the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, while the other is the Garda Commissioner. There is nobody overseeing the committee which does not report to the Oireachtas which needs to have oversight. We do not need to know the minutiaeof what it does, but we do...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 May 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...House. I appreciate that matters of national security cannot be disclosed in a general way to the public but it beggars belief that the two agencies in this country charged with national security, the Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces, and the general officer commanding the Air Corps, who is statutorily charged with being the sole director of military aviation in Ireland,...

Seanad: Order of Business (5 Apr 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...single authority with responsibility for the security of the State. The National Security Committee comprises four Department Secretaries General, the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces and the Garda Commissioner. Therefore, I agree with Senator Wilson that matters of military-----

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Mar 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: I rise to discuss the Garda Síochána again. I was disturbed all night last night thinking about the pressure on Commissioner O'Sullivan to resign and step aside. I did a little bit of work on the Garda Síochána, and it is interesting to note that in the history of the State no Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces has been forced out of office. Since the foundation of...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Mar 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: I appreciate that and I am coming to my point. I believe 60% of Garda Commissioners have been hounded out of office since the foundation of the State. In senior Garda management today there is somebody who knows what is going on and is afraid to speak. I put out a call today and I hope the Leader will support me. Whoever that person is, let the entire force not be tarred with a rotten...

Seanad: An Garda Síochána: Statements (28 Mar 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...here. This cannot be an easy time for her. The last paragraph of her speech says a lot about her time in office. She referred to the various organisation that she set up to oversee the running of the Garda Síochána, and I compliment her on doing so. I put on record this evening my deep respect for and express my gratitude to the ordinary gardaí who are on the streets...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Electronic Tagging (21 Mar 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...'s home was a heinous crime and traumatic for every victim. Furthermore, the high rates of recidivism and limited resources are causing havoc in communities. We know from statistics raised from An Garda Síochána's analysis service that 75% of burglaries are committed by 25% of burglars or offenders. I am joined in the Visitors Gallery today by Councillor Lynsey McGovern from...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Electronic Tagging (21 Mar 2017)

Gerard Craughwell: ...anything that was of value, went out the back door, climbed over my garden wall and got away. My garden wall is the best part of 10 ft. high on that person's side. We were promised that Stepaside Garda station would reopen. At a recent public meeting, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport stated it was not a question of "if" but of "when". That would help to some degree in our...