Results 1-20 of 1,333 for immigration speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Apr 2024)

Michael McDowell: ...about it and receiving submissions from the public. On a matter of such importance, which, as I said yesterday, has constitutional status and will deprive Ireland of its sovereign rights in perpetuity in respect of immigration and asylum seeking matters, there should be further consultation. If it is adopted, in future all these regulations will be able to be changed against Ireland's...

Seanad: An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (An Teaghlach), 2023: An Dara Céim - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023: Second Stage (22 Jan 2024)

Michael McDowell: ...couple should not, if this constitutional amendment is accepted, be treated equally for taxation purposes by virtue of the fact they are cohabiting. Were he to look around a few corners by looking to immigration law, to succession law, to pensions law and to a series of issues of that kind, the Minister would find there is every good reason to proceed with caution. My last point is that...

Seanad: Crime and Policing: Motion (27 Sep 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...were excluded from getting in and out of here by unnecessary traffic restrictions for a group of about 150 or 160 people who were mindless thugs with a variety of grievances, for example, "Ballybrack Says No" and problems with vaccines, immigrants and everything else. People say that this is the rise of the new right. I do not think there is very much "right" or "left" about what they...

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (24 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: ...measures in place. There are many issues that I would like to address today if I had more time. I would like to address the announcement by the British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, regarding the new immigration and card entry system into the UK and how that is going to integrate with the Irish common travel area. I would like to talk about how our relationship with the Schengen travel...

Seanad: Deportation Moratorium (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Second Stage (9 Dec 2020)

Michael McDowell: ...last resort. Every opportunity was given to people to make a case against deportation on compassionate and similar grounds.If we put into law a prohibition - even a temporary one - on the right of immigration officials to refuse the right to land in Ireland, it would endanger the common travel area and would be the subject of major political criticism to the effect that we were...

Seanad: Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2020)

Michael McDowell: Senator Higgins is being reasonable about this amendment, therefore I do not think I need to say too much about it. However, our immigration controls must be practical and workable. They cannot be an obstacle course of impenetrable presumptions against the proper conduct of immigration control. Therefore, it seems to me that were we to accept the amendment in its present form, it would...

Seanad: Provision of Accommodation and Ancillary Services to Applicants for International Protection: Statements (27 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...the right thing. The balance the Minister brought to his contribution was very important. We face a situation in which there are people who are very obviously abusing xenophobia, the fear of immigration and of foreigners, for political purposes. One does not have to search the Internet for very long to see its seeds. While I do not want to give excessive publicity to it because it is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...a lay person. How daft is that? How shameful that such arbitrary discrimination should be put into law. We talk these days about populism, and about people making inflammatory remarks regarding immigration, using words unwisely and trying to create, by wolf-whistle politics, a wrong impression among voters. There is a danger of that, as the Minister has noted. The purpose of the...

Seanad: Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2019: Second Stage (12 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...European Union to pursue a United States of Europe. These people must take responsibilty for the reactions they provoked. The same applies to the German Chancellor, Ms Merkel, whose handling of the immigration and refugee crisis in the context of the Syrian civil war was a mistake and produced a reaction in vast swathes of central Europe. The same also applies to those people who persist...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Naturalisation of Minors Born in Ireland) Bill 2018: Second Stage (21 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...born. When I was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform - the Minister of State, Deputy Stanton will know this - I left that Department in circumstances where it was anticipated that a new immigration and nationality Bill would be passed in which the entire process of considering applications to remain in this country, either on humanitarian grounds or on refugee-asylum-seeking...

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

Michael McDowell: ...political opinions or their philosophical beliefs, not to signal that if a liberal is wanted, they are the man or woman and not to say that their general attitude would be to support the State on immigration law matters or to say we have gone far too far in allowing asylum seekers and immigrants to use the court system. If somebody was in a position to say that and signal that to the...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Professor Christopher McCrudden (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...there will be all sorts of internal checks. It will, however, allow any EU national to get on a train from Paris to London without asking him or her to apply for a visa or to pass through a formal immigration control. What I really want to ask about is goods. Whether the special status is within, subject to or part of the customs union or analogous to being part of the customs unions,...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Representatives of the Transport Sector (11 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...by the Brexit process. While I agree that we have to look at the worst-case scenario in respect of North-South and east-west transport and movement of people, I do not believe there will be immigration checks on the Border or across the Irish Sea. The Government of the United Kingdom will continue to have visa-free access for EU citizens, which will include Irish citizens. The common...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement on Citizenship Rights: Professor Colin Harvey, Mr. Liam Herrick and Mr. Michael Farrell (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank the contributors for their considered papers. A couple of points occurred to me. Mention was made of the possibility of immigration controls coming in the wake of Brexit. It seems to me that the United Kingdom does not propose to impose a hard border in terms of immigration controls. It seems that the United Kingdom intends to control immigration by internal controls on access to...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern (6 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...happens - they are not going to have to look for visas or queue up to be examined coming off the channel tunnel train or whatever, anymore than they are at the moment - and that the barriers to immigration that the British envisage will be in regard to health, welfare, housing, employment rights and so on and that we would be exempt from that if the common travel area arrangements that...

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2007: Committee and Remaining Stages (27 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...it in normal times, it has been done while under constant pressure to keep the law administered and enforced against road traffic deaths, gangland crime and the subversive threats, and deal with immigration issues, etc. To reform the Garda Síochána at the same time as discharging its functions has been a major challenge. It is not possible to abolish it or test a particular theory to...

Written Answers — Visa Applications: Visa Applications (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...question has been granted a visa and is currently in the State on a visit. If she now wishes to remain on a longer term basis she must seek such permission, by written application, to the General Immigration area of my Department. Contact details are on my Department's website, www.justice.ie.

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: ...long term residency is as follows: Persons who have been legally resident in the State for over five years on the basis of work permit/work authorisation/work visa conditions may apply to the Immigration Division of my Department for a five year residency extension. In that context they may also apply to be exempt from employment permit requirements. The dependants of the aforementioned,...

Written Answers — Family Reunification: Family Reunification (26 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The person in question made a Family Reunification application on behalf of his wife in November 2004 and his 2 children in May 2005. The Immigration Division of my Department has informed me that the application in respect of the children has recently been approved. The application in respect of his wife is currently under consideration and my Department will be in contact with the person...

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (25 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I understand from the Immigration Division of my Department that a decision has been reached in relation to the application in question. The refugee will be informed of the decision shortly.