Results 2,821-2,840 of 18,749 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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

Michael McDowell: I would like to know what suitability "on grounds of health" means.

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

Michael McDowell: Yes. One could have a lifelong disability of various kinds and be a perfectly good judge. The implication is that there would have to be medical examinations in order to be appointed to the Judiciary.

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

Michael McDowell: Yes, or fill out a form about one's medical background. I wonder why it is that the commission is being given this function of assessing the health of candidates. Why are we doing that? It has not been a problem in the past.

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

Michael McDowell: Yes.

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

Michael McDowell: Section 37 is the first section in Chapter 1 of Part 7 of the Bill. It states: "Nothing in this Chapter or Chapter 2shall be construed as being applicable to a judicial office to which section 44applies". As we know, section 44 applies to three offices. Those are the appointments to the positions of President of the High Court, President of the Court of Appeal and Chief Justice. The...

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

Michael McDowell: Exactly.

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

Michael McDowell: And rightly so.

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

Michael McDowell: This Bill still offends that and I believe that the Judiciary in Ireland will find that and I believe the objections stated by the European Commission are still valid. What business is it of any group to take upon itself the function of looking at judges of the Court of Appeal, short-listing them and setting them out in order of preference for appointment to be an ordinary member of the...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I wish to speak briefly to the section. I agree with Senator Black's analysis of it. The definition of "occupied territory" is not related to one particular corner of this planet and is of general application. It is perfectly legitimate for the State to uphold international law by rendering the importation of goods and the supply of services from an unlawfully occupied territory to be a...

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

Michael McDowell: When I reported progress, I had asked the Minister to set out some of the thinking in regard to Senator Bacik's amendment No. 72 and to set out his own attitude to that amendment.

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

Michael McDowell: If the Minister is trying to introduce an irrelevant and slightly offensive tone to this debate, he started off on the right foot. He informed the House that I was probably involved in the campaign to prevent solicitors from becoming judges of the High Court, or else that I was too busy in the Law Library to participate in the debate while I was a barrister. If he checks the record,...

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

Michael McDowell: No, a lawyer. I cannot imagine that a lawyer would seek appointment to the District Court Bench and, within two years, say he or she is in the wrong court and should be in the High Court. A person so philosophically and professionally confused about where his or her forte in law lay would need a great deal of counselling. If one applies to be a District Court judge, one is applying for a...

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

Michael McDowell: Humanities or something like that. Some other phrase is used now. The head of the law school is the dean but the dean is not the head of a faculty. In King's Inns, the dean is not the head of a faculty. I would have to check the rules. As far as I know in TCD, which is a major law school, it is a school.

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

Michael McDowell: There is no faculty involved at all. I am bit mystified as to why we are using these terms without definition and why we are making special provision for people who have done that. I can well imagine the head of the law school in Trinity going on if they have faculties in Trinity – I presume they do-----

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

Michael McDowell: The Senator is not losing them.

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

Michael McDowell: The Senator is not losing them yet.

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

Michael McDowell: This legislation appears to have a governance picture of the law schools in Ireland which is not what happens on the ground. There is a dean of the law school in UCD, an immensely talented woman-----

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

Michael McDowell: There is a law school in TCD but I am not clear whether its head is called a dean, and the head of the law school in the college is not the head of the faculty as far as I am aware. Can I have an explanation for this elaborate provision for a job that does not exist in the Law Society of Ireland or in the King's Inns? One might be the head of the humanities faculty or whatever the old arts...

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

Michael McDowell: I am not purporting to do so.

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

Michael McDowell: I hope Senator Norris will not take offence at this, but I must agree that his claim that high-flying academics will demean themselves by becoming judges of the District Court is slightly unfortunate.