Results 61-80 of 183 for going forward speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following:“Communication with person eligible for appointment to judicial office 41. No provision of this Act affects, limits or inhibits the right of the Government, or of the Minister or the Attorney General acting on the authority of the Government, to communicate with a person eligible for appointment to any judicial office with a view to...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Dec 2018)

Michael McDowell: If we are going to compare first preferences, all I want to say is that I look forward to the time when this House is reformed and many more of us will be in a position to dismiss remarks of that kind. On a more serious note, in respect of the person in question, there is a grinch associated with Christmas but it is not necessary to be a grinch the other 364 days of the year as well.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Dec 2018)

Michael McDowell: Formally or informally, it does not make much difference; if someone gets the tap on the shoulder it is the same thing. If the Attorney General asks someone to put their name forward for consideration, implicit in that is confidence that they are not wasting their time in doing so. I go one stage further. When that happened in cases of which I had experience, I was always very careful...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (19 Dec 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...those offices. The reason is twofold. The Minister has referred to the phrase that I have used, which is "embarrassing". It is embarrassing for a serving judge to constantly put his or her name forward for every promotional position that comes up and constantly be told, or infer from the silence that follows, that he or she was not shortlisted without explanation. It is embarrassing....

Seanad: Conflict in Yemen: Motion (19 Dec 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...of huge horror to me. The United States Senate recently expressed its views about the royal family in Saudi Arabia, which was a good shot across their bows. I commend Senator Higgins for bringing forward this motion. If I had been drafting the motion, it would have been in slightly more colourful terms. For Members of this House who are interested in Middle Eastern affairs, there are...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...I am very loath to do so because, if he simply brought us back to the position at which this Bill had us in the Dáil, it would still be unconstitutional for the reasons I have mentioned. I am not going to say that one unconstitutional version of this Bill is better than another unconstitutional version. Unless the Minister deals with the constitutional issues I am raising, then both...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...as matters of law and not by reference to other criteria. To uphold the Constitution and the laws in their decisions impartially requires them to function clearly independently from public opinion going one way or the other on issues. It is about standing up for the rights of an individual citizen at law and under the Constitution, however popular or unpopular the position of that...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (21 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I would like know whether I am wasting my time and playing handball against a ministerial and governmental haystack in respect of the obligation this Bill proposes to put on all existing members of the superior courts to effectively engage in a competitive process to be shortlisted to be among the three names to be sent forward for consideration by the Cabinet. If I was told the Minister is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...it the case that those who will be shortlisted will be notified of the fact of their having been shortlisted? The commission will not be making the final decision, as it will be a matter for the Government. If a particular judge is told that the commission accepted that he or she was one of the top three, but he or she is not appointed to the Supreme Court, he or she will have to draw...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: Is the Minister saying that it would be mandatory for the commission to inform disappointed applicants of their status or is he saying that it would not be mandatory, but it would be good practice to do it? Surely in all fairness to a Supreme Court, High Court or Court of Appeal judge who has served the country for 15 years it should be clearly the case that they should know whether they...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: Yes, but what policy are we talking about? If the chairman appears before a committee to discuss the general administration of the commission, how could he or she be involved in a debate on Government policy before the committee? How could that arise unless it was a resources issue and the Government was determined only to give the commission half of what the commission believes necessary...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: -----which will have the effect of requiring every nominating body to come forward with a candidate of each gender, so that in the end the result will be gender balanced. The Minister will appreciate that if she simply rolled over on this particular section and said that it could remain part of the Bill, it would be inconsistent with that ambition, on her part, because it would allow a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...by number or composed of a minimum number of lay or judicial members, or both. This was before the text of the Bill was ever published, and it was this Minister who published the Bill and brought forward the heads of the Bill with all the foot-stamping going on about no appointments and the urgency of it. It is the Minister for Justice and Equality who brought forward the text of the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...for the appointment of judges. In the end, this legislation, in whatever shape or form in which it is passed, cannot transfer responsibility for the choice of judges from the elected Government of the day, or each member of the Government, to any other body. If one cannot stand the heat in the kitchen, one should not be there. If one repudiates the role the Constitution gives one in the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (4 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...of this, that or the other, or what their sexual orientation is, or how they view or do not view gay rights, and if this is the direct purpose of the interviews, that is a direct trespass on the Government's prerogative in these matters. It effectively creates a mini-Cabinet subcommittee to vet people by reference to their outlooks and ideologies, and that would be entirely wrong. Even in...

Seanad: Civil Law (Costs in Probate Matters) Bill 2017: Second Stage (8 May 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...Vella v. Morelli. Prior to that, it dates back to the early 19th century. The Irish courts, where a challenge is brought to a will, generally follow the rule that, if the challenge is brought in good faith and is reasonable, the challenger is entitled to have the costs of the challenge - this is in addition to the costs of defending it - paid out of the estate even if he or she fails. My...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Post Office Network: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...are a few questions that I would like to put arising out of the presentations. I found them very helpful on all fronts. I think the idea that the post office should be a local State office is a good one. It should also be a portal for online services, even with the State. The idea that it could be used for medical consultations and other suggestions is really inventive thinking. It...

Seanad: National Shared Services Office Bill 2016: Second Stage (18 Jul 2017)

Michael McDowell: I strongly support this Bill and I strongly support the initiative of the Minister of State and the Government in bringing it forward. Like Senator Horkan, I take the view that, normally, when we are told another statutory body is to be created, our antennae go up for a moment. However, on this occasion, I can see the reason that it should have a statutory basis. If it is to be...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Jun 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...Board would make recommendations but would also inform the Government of the people who had expressed an interest in being appointed. The new Bill, curiously, will just say that three names will be forwarded to the Government and that no information will be given to the Minister as to who was rejected, so that the Cabinet, in looking at the three names, will effectively be like the...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: Indeed, I forgot about that. If the Minister is actually saying this is the justification for this, how will anybody control it? I come back to the point about the provision on cutting, grubbing and destroying being a nationwide operation as section 8(2) stands. There is not the mechanism, machinery, resources or capacity on the part of any wildlife agency or conservation body to do...