Results 41-60 of 5,663 for speaker:Gerard Craughwell

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

Gerard Craughwell: I personally believe the Department has a job to do and I am 100% supportive of that, but I am also deeply concerned that defence is in some way being pushed aside. It is being pushed into a corner. The events in recent weeks demonised the Defence Forces. I was deeply disappointed in the Minister's own statement when he said members of the Defence Forces have to be held to a higher...

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

Gerard Craughwell: This House and the Lower House have done extreme damage to the Defence Forces. Statements about holding them to a higher plane than anybody else-----

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

Gerard Craughwell: We are talking about the command structure.

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

Gerard Craughwell: I am entitled to my view on the command structure of the Defence Forces.

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

Gerard Craughwell: You might be being a little bit hard on me, a Leas-Chathaoirligh.

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

Gerard Craughwell: Of course I am pressing the amendment.

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

Gerard Craughwell: What we are talking about here is gagging members of the Defence Forces. We do not have any difficulty on the political side but Government policy is the issue, as Senator McDowell has outlined. There has already been a High Court case involving a soldier who wanted to appear in the respect and loyalty parades that took place in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The Minister's Department lost that case...

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

Gerard Craughwell: The Tánaiste referred to the phrase "while in uniform or otherwise making himself or herself identifiable as a member of the Permanent Defence Force". The secretary general of RACO, the deputy secretary general, any member of RACO's or PDFORRA's executive committee or any official working for PDFORRA are members of the Permanent Defence Force on secondment to these representative...

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

Gerard Craughwell: Is it section G?

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

Gerard Craughwell: As far as I am concerned, all we need to do here is remove the phrase "on matters of Government policy". If we remove that phrase, we can agree to move forward on that basis. Again I go back to the situation mentioned earlier, which the Tánaiste did not address. A Pride parade is a political parade. Would the Tánaiste agree with that? If so, then any regulation coming forward...

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

Gerard Craughwell: Does it not advocate for-----

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

Gerard Craughwell: I thank the Minister for putting on the record of the House that the vast majority of members of the Defence Forces are decent, honest, hardworking, law-abiding citizens. That was an important statement to make in the House today because of the level of hurt there is in the defence community and family due to things said in recent days. The Minister has now corrected the record and I thank...

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

Gerard Craughwell: Yes.

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

Gerard Craughwell: I will go back to my time as president of the Teachers' Union of Ireland, TUI. I remember making a statement one day and at the following executive meeting, one of the executive members asked who had given me permission to make the bloody statement. He said that there was an executive committee and its role was to decide what I could and could not say. We have an additional restriction the...

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

Gerard Craughwell: I move amendment No. 5: In page 9, line 13, to delete “or matter of Government policy”.

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

Gerard Craughwell: I am concerned as we are running very tight on time and there is a huge section of this Bill that deals with the external oversight body on the participation of the Secretary General of the Department. I wonder whether there is a way that we could call on the Leader to the House to extend time and give us another half hour.

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

Gerard Craughwell: I appreciate the Tánaiste's position and he will appreciate that the external oversight body and the participation of the Secretary General is a huge issue.

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

Gerard Craughwell: I assume they have a lot of money to throw down the drain.

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

Gerard Craughwell: I wish to deal with all of the amendments together, if I may, given the time we have. Section 323(1)(c) provides that the Secretary General of the Department of Defence shall be an ex officio member of the external oversight body. Section 323(7) states, "The person appointed (or designated under subsection (6)) as chairperson of the External Oversight Body shall not have served [in] the...

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

Gerard Craughwell: The Minister does not have to-----