Political career
Craughwell contested the 2014 Seanad by-election which arose due to a vacancy on the Cultural and Educational Panel on the election of Deirdre Clune to the European Parliament, initially a symbolic gesture to protest against the usual practice of the government using its parliamentary majority to secure the election of its chosen candidate. [6] Craughwell secured nomination from members of the technical group and Fianna Fáil. [7] After controversy surrounding the appointment of John McNulty, the Fine Gael candidate, to a state board, Craughwell won the election on 10 October 2014. [8]
Craughwell tried twice to join the Independent Seanad group, but it refused to admit him. [9] He suggested the group, mainly Taoiseach's nominees, was compromising its independence and supporting the government. [9] He later joined the Independent Alliance. [10] He did not endorse Alliance members' criticism of the government's January 2016 appointment of David Begg, as Chair of the Pensions Authority. [11]
Craughwell ran in the Seanad election in April 2016 and was elected this time for the Labour Panel. [12]
Craughwell left the Independent Alliance during the government formation talks in 2016. [13]
After raising the HPV vaccine in the Seanad, [14] he distanced himself from anti-vaccine campaigners. [15]
In 2016 Craughwell took a case on behalf of himself and a number of local authority members in Ireland to attempt to stop the deduction of Class K from their representation payments under the 2011 Oireachtas Act as it did not contribute towards any benefits for Social Protection and was considered unconstitutional as a result. [16] [17]
Craughwell indicated that he would seek a nomination for the 2018 presidential election, [18] but later withdrew his intention, claiming that the main political parties were "working together to deny the citizens of this Republic the opportunity to select their next President by means of an election". [19] To run for the presidency he would have needed the support of four local authorities or 20 Oireachtas members to be nominated. In 2018, he had emailed councillors with information on how to avoid under claiming expenses, and defended the advice commenting that being full-time councillor was a poorly paid profession. [20]
In 2021 retired members of Oglaigh na hEireann including Craughwell and Leo Quinlan, son of Commandant Pat Quinlan, took the State to the Irish High Court over the long denial of medals to the relatives and the Irish troops who served under Quinlan's command in UN uniform during the siege of Jadotville in Katanga the breakaway province of the Congo. Despite successfully repelling a band of Katangan mercenaries without the loss of any Irishmen under Quinlan's command this event had been shamefully regarded by both the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs as a military defeat while Quinlan only surrendered having run out of ammunition as demonstrated in various scholarly texts and in the acclaimed film Siege of Jadotville. The veterans subsequently received a full apology from the State for their long campaign for justice and an Independent Review Board was established to award the overdue medals which has still to actually award them. [21]
In August 2023, Craughwell announced on Twitter that he thought the Gender Recognition Act 2015 was flawed, and that gender wasn't distinct from biological sex, and transgender individuals shouldn't be allowed into single-sex spaces that don't correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth. [22] Prior to the act's passage in 2015, Craughwell had criticized proposals to only allow unmarried transgender individuals to change their gender markers on government documents and to require documentation of medical transition prior to allowing such a change. [23]
Craughwell is a member of the cross-party Oireachtas Friends of Israel in the Oireachtas. [24]
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