Results 2,561-2,580 of 18,755 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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

Michael McDowell: I listened carefully to what the Minister just said, but I am absolutely mesmerised by what I did not hear and what I failed to grasp in what he said. Is the Attorney General to be free to inform the Cabinet-----

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

Michael McDowell: -----that someone has applied a number of times and has been passed over?

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

Michael McDowell: The answer to that is either "Yes" or "No". If the answer is "No", as Senator Norris seems to think is the case, it only increases my worries and deeply held sentiment that the Bill is intended to have an unconstitutional effect. Imagine the Cabinet getting the names of three people it is not keen on for appointment and someone asking whether Ms Justice or Mr. Justice so and so would be...

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

Michael McDowell: -----that a particular candidate whom it is discussing has been rejected on a number of occasions and stands rejected from being shortlisted? I would just like to know. Rather than circling around the issue, I want to know the plain, simple, straight proposition. Is that what this Bill actually says?

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

Michael McDowell: Then I really despair of this Government. The Bill would not be in its present form and be populated with all of these unconstitutional provisions were it not for the enthusiasm of one member of the Government. The Minister, who is guiding the legislation through this House, is asking us to accept as a constitutional proposition that the Attorney General should be prohibited from informing...

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

Michael McDowell: That was the Minister's measure. The Minister put him on the commission. The Minister is now saying that the person involved is to be circumscribed by a greater duty of confidentiality to the commission than by a duty of frankness and-----

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

Michael McDowell: -----accountability to the people who the Constitution says he is there to advise on matters of law and legal opinion. Where does this House get the right to tell an Attorney General what she or he can tell the Cabinet about what he or she knows about-----

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

Michael McDowell: -----the availability of a person for judicial appointment when the Cabinet, because the three people put forward are not impressive, asks about Ms Justice so and so? We are now being told by the Minister that the Attorney General will be bound not to tell the Cabinet that the judge in question has applied a number of times, has never featured on a shortlist and, having applied on this...

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

Michael McDowell: I would be happy to report progress.

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

Michael McDowell: Before I move on to amendment No. 86c, I wish to emphasise the gravity of the admissions that are being made by the people who are promoting this draft legislation. I wish to make a point that I have made a number of times.

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

Michael McDowell: It would fit in here very well. This Bill will damage the quality of the Judiciary if it is enacted in its present form. It will inhibit the promotion of the best judges.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: It is.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: I second the amendment.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (29 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: I too want to be associated with the statements of sympathy to the relatives and friends and community members of those who died in that tragic accident in Donegal. When I heard there were four young men killed in a car accident and the word "Donegal" came after it, it brought me back to a number of previous occasions. I know today is not the day to discuss these things but I really think...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Garda Reserve (24 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach for allowing this Commencement matter to be dealt with this morning.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Garda Reserve (24 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: In any event, what I am dealing with here is a matter of the greatest seriousness. This Government, on foot of a statutory provision that I put into the Garda Síochána Act 2005, committed itself to expanding the Garda Reserve to 2,000 men and women who would voluntarily assist An Garda Síochána in the discharge of its duties, be available as backup and support, and be...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Garda Reserve (24 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: Something must be damaged.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Garda Reserve (24 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister of State for his response but he knows the problem runs much deeper than the text of his reply suggests. There is a cultural problem, as he admitted. There is a resistance to the Garda Reserve. If there is to be a review of the reserve, I want to know the following. Who will be on the review? Who will conduct the review? Within what timeframe will they bring back...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Garda Reserve (24 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: A minority report was preferred to our recommendation.

Seanad: Government's Brexit Preparedness: Statements (22 Jan 2019)

Michael McDowell: No.