Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 29 Jun 2022

I concur with everything that I said about CE schemes. I just wish we would have treated the supervisors much better. These people carry out an amazing job in local communities and we have treated them very badly. Listen, back to Dublin Airport and the part-time Minister for Defence agreeing to place the Defence Forces into a private company. I just ask tomorrow morning if Supermax or McDonald's are stuck for staff, will we be putting the Defence Forces in there as well? It's becoming a bit of a pain, quite frankly, what's going on. I read today now that we're likely to lose another ship because of crew shortages. Engineers are walking out. We have a report on the Commission for Defence over five months sitting. Why did we put the Commission together if we weren't going to listen to what they have done, the recommendations they made? How much work is there involved in following through on the recommendations from the Commission? So, we've bought two new ships and we're about to lose one and we are the only country in the EU that does not have a dedicated Minister for Defence. And I think it's a bit tiresome now that we're dealing with a part-timer who spends most of his time somewhere else in the world and not in this country. And it's just not on, so it's not. The fact of the matter with respect... Senator Crockwell should withdraw that from Matt. No, I won't withdraw. That will be a host, that will be a host, Senator Crockwell. Oh, sorry, Kyra, your job is to protect people who are not here as well. You have an opportunity to come in. No, but Kyra, sorry, on a point of order, sorry. Senator Crockwell is making a political statement, I know it's a political chamber. Sorry, Senator, quite clearly, this is a political chamber. But Kyra... People make political statements. You're the chair, the Minister's not here, and people who are not here to defend themselves, come on, you know the rules better than I do, or you should know them. Senator, I don't think we need to go through the record of any member of this House where they refer to a Minister or their decisions. I don't think we have to do that, because that's what happens in this chamber. Members are entitled to come in and speak about government action. Senator, continue. Thank you. Look, we're talking about placing a number of Defence Force people on standby for Dublin Airport. What the general public don't realise, I know you do, Deputy Leader, because you've been at the call face yourself, putting people on standby means you're not going on leave, you've got to be available. So, in the middle of the holiday season, soldiers go on holidays with their families too. Men and women of the Defence Forces go on holidays. And in order to meet the commitment for Dublin Airport, we will be drawing troops from Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, Dundalk, and possibly Donegal. And they will need to be accommodated, and where will they be accommodated? In the very barracks the Minister for Transport wants to sell off and use for social housing. So, at the end of the day, I really want to see the Commission on Defence coming forward. There was a tiny part of the recommendations from that Commission which dealt with pay. It could have been done at the stroke of a pen the moment the Commission report was published. It hasn't been done. We've lost over 200 people since then. We're about to lose another 40 from the Naval Service, I understand. If this happens, we're in dire, dire straits. We have the largest EEC area, or EZ area, should I say, of the Atlantic Ocean to look after. And we're now down to possibly three ships. It's a joke, and it needs to stop. So it does. And I'm sorry if people don't like me referring to the part-time Minister. But at the end of the day, we are the only country in the EU without a dedicated Minister for Defence. That's shameful. That's not correct, Minister.