Results 2,141-2,160 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am interested in hearing the reply to that question too.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: The other thing is that the Minister has just said the informal non-statutory process which he has put in place is in recognition of the fact that this legislation is not and never was going to be in operation this side of this summer. As I understand it, the process does not involve putting an advertisement in a newspaper to say it is proposed to fill a vacancy and invite people to apply...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----that it is about handing out sweets to one's favourites-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----that it is about giving things to people who may not deserve them-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----and that it is about handing out the baubles of political power to people. I know that the Minister may not share that view and I am not suggesting he does, but if he reads the books the Minister, Deputy Ross, or Senator Ross as he then was, wrote about cronyism and the like, it is quite clear-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: While I am on the subject, the fact that the Minister, Deputy Ross, is not here did not deter him from spending the whole morning communicating with Members of this House whom he thought he might be able to influence to back use of the guillotine.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, acknowledges that he is a guest in this House and not badgering individual Members to vote for use of the guillotine or the like. He regards this House as being the master of its own fate. I can assure him, however, that strong pressure was brought to bear on many Members of this House, not by him but by someone at Government level.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am not agreeable to discussing the two amendments together, for reasons I will come back to at a later stage.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: The two amendments are different.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 95b:In page 32, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following:“(2) Where a notice of appointment to judicial office is published in Iris Oifigiúl in accordance with this section a person who was recommended in the past three years by the Commission for appointment to a judicial office of the same type shall be a person recommended by the Commission for the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: This is very unsatisfactory in a way. The Minister says we should look at amendment No. 96a and it would effectively cover this matter. Without committing himself to what he is going to do in respect of amendment 96a he just says he wants to reflect on the matter. I concede my function is not to be allowing opportunities for reflection, it is to amend the Bill and to make it good as soon...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: When this section was presented to this House it was part of the dog's dinner that the Attorney General referred to because it was proposed in the original form in which it came to this House that where somebody who was appointed to judicial office had not been recommended by the commission, the notice of appointment would also include in Iris Oifigiúila reasoned explanation of the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: We then have to look at the absolutely ridiculous subsection (3) that was appended to it in its original form which says: "In publishing the reasoned written decision in accordance with subsection (2), the persons recommended by the Commission shall not be identified." We had somebody who was not recommended being appointed, the Government was to put a reasoned explanation as to why the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: One might or one might not.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: One might think one has been short-listed four times now and been constantly turned down by the Government.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: Exactly. One might ask at some stage why one has been on the shortlist on a number of occasions and even though other people are added to the shortlist, one is always discriminated against by the Government or the Government has it in for one for some reason. A thought process of that kind might take place. The Minister has not accepted amendments to this effect so I really want to know if...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: In his normal discretion and absolute-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----zipped mouth he makes-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----an exception on this occasion-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----and tells a newspaper man that I was short-listed. Is that a secret? Has a confidence been broken? I would like some clarity on this. For instance, would it be open to a Minister to say that Senator Norris has been short-listed three times but we have no intention of appointing him? Would that be legitimate? There seems to be a mixed message coming from this legislation and I would...