Results 101-120 of 353 for long speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: Revised National Development Plan: Discussion (3 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: We mentioned the Galway ring road a while ago. It has been an issue for a long time. A group in Galway has spent an incredible amount of time looking at light rail systems. One issue that I have as we move forward with plans is that, for example, a bridge is being put over the Corrib using the old Clifden line pillars. I understand that it will be a footbridge. My question for Mr. Walsh...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Foreign Birth Registration (2 Nov 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...I mentioned who want to live here, and it is financially viable for them to do so, in addition to those in various other family circumstances. The Minister of State is in the game of politics a long time and he knows none of these families finds this easy. It is very difficult. I ask that the Minister do something to get the foreign birth registration office up and running again. There...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Oct 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...in September 2016 off the coast of County Clare after an inflatable boat she was in capsized during the search mission, was critical of the safety management systems in place at the time. Second, the long-awaited report on the accident involving Rescue 116 in March 2017 with the loss of four crew will, I believe, be damning of the corporate governance of all of the organisations involved...

Seanad: Air Navigation and Transport Bill 2020: Second Stage (28 Sep 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...number of amendments that I want to bring to the attention of the Minister of State. Rather than walking into this House on Committee Stage to put the amendments forward and talk for God knows how long on them, and at the end of the day the amendments get kicked aside and voted down, I would much prefer to work with the Minister of State and her officials on the amendments we will be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Work of Front Line Defenders in Afghanistan: Discussion (28 Sep 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...Is it the case that the likes of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC, are still actively recruiting combatants in the region? If so, what is the impact of that? With respect to the long-term prison referenced by Mr. Anderson, what can I say? The stories about the priests, an 84-year-old man who has been in prison for nine months and a 60-year-old man who has been in prison...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Situation in Belarus: Discussion with Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya (15 Jul 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I will not take too long. I congratulate Ms Tsikhanouskaya on coming here and on bearing witness before the committee. I noticed a clampdown on journalists is underway in Belarus now. Is that shutting down the popular press? In other words, is that clampdown allowing the regime to control all media? Is that what is happening in Belarus? If it happens to a significant level, will it...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (13 Jul 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...fully before it goes ahead. The chances are this procedure will go ahead when we go into recess and we will not be able to speak about it again but, by God, I promise I will follow this to hell for as long as I am a Member of this House and if I find something is rotten at the bottom of it, I will expose it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: Recruitment and Retention in the Defence Forces: RACO (29 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I will not delay too long. As a former serving member, it is absolutely heartbreaking to see for the second time a representative body before the committee with such a bleak outlook. The RAF is protecting our sky and EU ships are protecting our seas and it is only a matter of time before G4S or some other security organisation is minding our Army barracks. I have massive respect but...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...Speaking of Covid-19 and hospitals, I will speak about something that may annoy some people, namely, the wearing of hospital uniforms in supermarkets and while walking around the streets. It has long been a bone of contention of mine that people who work in what should be fairly sterile areas appear in supermarkets wearing scrubs on their way home from work. I have read a number of...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...centre. Is it not an outright abuse of human rights that we would prevent a child or a young adult from accessing our educational services when they have been living in this country for such a long time? We talk so much about the generosity of the Irish, boxing above our weight and how wonderful we are, but we have treated migrants in an appalling way. I travelled to the UK in the...

Committee on Public Petitions: Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision Report: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...know. I will outline an experience I had at the weekend. I have a relative whose legs have been amputated. A three-year-old child, my granddaughter, turned to him the other day and asked him how long it would take for them to grow back. That is a child. A child sees nothing but positivity. A child has no inhibitions. God help us but we train them to build the inhibitions they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: First Annual Report of the Oversight Group on Women, Peace and Security: Discussion (22 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: I welcome the witnesses, particularly Ms Owen who has been a trailblazer and who broke through the glass ceiling long before many women in Ireland. She comes from a family of very strong women. I am delighted as a brother of eight sisters. All my sisters were strong, independent women in their own right. I never really understood anything but inequality until I left home. It is a...

Seanad: Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2021: Second Stage (14 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...and Report Stages here to seriously take on board any amendments that are brought forward. Senator Bacik, in particular, has been a great champion of equality right down through the years for as long as I can remember. The issue of pay gaps in the public sector does not arise to a great deal. In my time as president of the Teachers Union of Ireland I came across eight women who were...

Seanad: Public Service Pay Bill 2020: Second Stage (14 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...the pain we inflicted on our public servants in the draconian way in which we cut their salaries.There were public servants who had bought houses and set their lives in train when, suddenly, along came the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation and their lives were destroyed. It is good to see that it is coming to an end. There is one question we have to ask. The...

Seanad: Right to Housing: Motion (4 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...no idea whether the Affordable Housing Bill is going to do anything. God help me, but I am sick to the back teeth of listening to people who say that we now have the solution to housing. I have listened to that for so long that I am beginning to dread hearing it. When I bought my first house, 2.5 times my salary was enough to get me a mortgage. Tell me anybody who will get a mortgage...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia: Discussion (1 Jun 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...people to investigate human rights abuses or issues where there is some doubt with respect to the violence. We have the Good Friday Agreement and some people would say we have not come an awful long way since the day we signed it. There are still difficulties and those difficulties will be there for many years to come. I ask that the public of Columbia be made aware of every instance...

Seanad: Covid-19 Vaccination Programme: Statements (31 May 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...for another time. I must compliment the Department. There was a lot of toing and froing, vaccines were coming or they were not, we expected to hit this or that number, but in the end it is moving along in the way we expected it. Nothing is ever certain in that type of situation. I am fortunate enough to have had the first dose of AstraZeneca, which I had grave reservations about taking,...

Seanad: Search and Rescue System: Motion (28 May 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: ...that rests solely on a single commercial contract must migrate to a hybrid model providing layers of resilience in a mix of sovereign and commercial service delivery protecting against industrial action which would ground aircraft; acknowledges that: - the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, along with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Simon Coveney, are both favourably disposed...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Cybersecurity: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2021)

Gerard Craughwell: .... Every Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas received a copy of a paper written by Mr. Pat Larkin in 2018 in which much of what has happened was predicted. I know that the Minister of State is not long in the Ministry, so I am not pointing any fingers at him. However, it would suggest a lack of awareness. My colleague, Senator Horkan, referred to ethical hacking. In one of the...