Results 61-80 of 5,663 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: It is no secret that I despise the way the IRG report was published. It would have been significant enough at the time to put out two lines saying that there was prima facie evidence, based on research, for a tribunal of inquiry. The rush to the gallows in this building, with rope to hang everybody who wore a uniform, was outrageous and disgusting, but that is not the issue today. We are...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: I am anxious to call a vote on this. We are running out of time.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: I will withdraw the amendment and resubmit it on Report Stage.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: Under Standing Order 62(3)(b) I request that the division be taken again other than by electronic means.

Seanad: Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister for being here today. First and foremost, I do not believe the Government is answerable for everything. The Government puts resources into the health services and it is up to the health services to deliver. Quite frankly, it is very difficult to understand how we find ourselves in the situations we end up in with the health service. There is money being pumped into it...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (2 Jul 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: Today we remember the crew of Rescue 111 who gave their lives off the coast of Waterford, near Tramore, after a successful search and rescue mission. Those brave men were Captain Dave O'Flaherty, recipient of the distinguished service medal, DSM; Captain Mike Baker, recipient of the DSM; Sergeant Paddy Mooney, recipient of the DSM; and Corporal Niall Byrne, recipient of the DSM. I will...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: First, I apologise. Typically at this time, what is happening in the Houses is quite insane and difficult to keep up with. I thank Mr. Sloyan for being here. I am very appreciative of his office. The first area I wish to raise is that of pension abatement. I understand there have been several court cases through the years where a pension is seen by the courts as a property right and...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: Because we have a situation where members of the Defence Forces who go into certain occupations, such as roles with the Irish Aviation Authority, for example, are not subject to pension abatement. The position is similar for Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas or employees of several semi-State agencies. Abatement was brought in to prevent very senior civil servants from taking lump...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: In the case of service provided, a key component of the confidence of the public to come and use the service is to know how successful things are. Does the ombudsman carry out an after-service investigation or statistical analysis of how long it took to deal with a particular problem, the number of positive and negative outcomes and the number of cases that were spurious and should never...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: That is extremely reassuring and I thank Ms McGovern for jumping in.

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: Mr. Sloyan will appreciate that we get petitions in here frequently for strange things. One of the strange ones before us right now and we have discussed it at length, thanks to the Chairman and indeed our wonderful support staff, is the area of insurance, specifically insurance for thatched properties. It has become a bugbear in here. As of right now, and the Chairman will correct me if I...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: The other area of interest to me in dealing with State organisations, and I have to hold my hands up here because I am one person who is involved with it, is dealing with pensions. There is a belief among some of us in the Oireachtas that, when you are dealing with State agencies, they delay it so long in the hope that you will die before they have to answer the question. How long is a...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: Okay, that is fine.

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: I remember using the office of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman many years ago with regard to one of the banks which had a charge for an unauthorised overdraft. The overdraft was 50p at the time, if I am not mistaken. The ombudsman's office was fantastic. It was the principle behind the thing. There was no notification for the customer that they would incur a charge if they...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: On the issue of pensions, I believe that the post-2013 pension is already beginning to cause problems within the forces, the fire service, An Garda, etc. I do not know how much interaction the ombudsman's office has had in the area of pensions, but we had a pension change in the public service in 1996, if I am not mistaken, again in 2004 and then in 2013. On the 2004 change, anecdotally I...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: The FSPO does not see a role for itself in forming the policy. It is one thing for those of us who are representing the services I am talking about, or for the services' representative bodies themselves, to bring forward requests for policy change, etc. We can produce all of the empirical evidence we want but at the end of the day it is empirical evidence coming from our side rather than...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: Right now we have a piece of legislation passing through the House on the Court Service, immigration and social welfare. There are about ten different things stuck in it. Right at the end of the legislation, there is a piece on superannuation. One would want to have ten pieces of primary legislation available in order to cross-reference what it is we are changing. That point has been made...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: For what it is worth, my experience dealing with the FSPO and other ombudsmen has generally been that it takes one letter from the ombudsman for people to realise they have to sit down and talk to each other to resolve problems. For that, I am extremely grateful. I am mindful of one pensioner, back in the 1970s, who retired on a pension of £15 a month. A year later, his colleague...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: It seems mediation is a key tool used by the ombudsman. How happy are the witnesses that the mediation system works, particularly since the financial crash? Since the financial crash, there have been people within this organisation here who have set themselves up as mediators between lending institutions and distressed mortgage holders and the likes. Does Mr. Sloyan see mediation as a key...

Committee on Public Petitions: Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman: Annual Report and Other Matters (27 Jun 2024)

Gerard Craughwell: I will let the Chairman move in for a while.