Results 3,841-3,860 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Dr. Duncan Morrow (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Since I am coming under a bit of pressure to say something I should throw in a couple of my own thoughts and maybe Dr. Morrow would address them. The question of the primacy of the Good Friday Agreement is primacy over what. At the moment it has the status of an international treaty, it is registered in the UN and is accepted in The Hague, the EU has endorsed it and so on. It has that...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Dr. Duncan Morrow (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: In such circumstances, the first issue I raised relates to what the Good Friday Agreement has primacy over. The second is that our aim is to reconcile the inevitable Brexit with the Good Friday Agreement by having as soft an impact as us possible on that agreement and its underlying values, as mentioned in Dr. Morrow's papers. I hope I am not being too controversial.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Dr. Duncan Morrow (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: What court will hear the case?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Ms Gina McIntyre (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Ms Gina McIntyre stated that timing is of the essence and that her organisation is already working on it. Had work been done on cross-Border projects and funding prior to Brexit, prior to the referendum result? In other words, was there work in train on the next programme that was then interrupted?

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

Michael McDowell: I thank Professor McCrudden for a very stimulating and challenging contribution. It occurs to me that lawyers are sometimes inclined to look at things as they are rather than as they might be. If a flexible and imaginative solution to Ireland's difficulties were to be found, it could be the subject of a mini-treaty to enable it to go outside the constraints of existing EU law without...

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

Michael McDowell: It occurs to me that Senator Mark Daly is speaking about the Single Market for services. It is a lot more complex to fracture on an east-west basis than the market for goods. It may be that the best we can hope for is special status as regards goods and having to walk away from services and saying it is part of UK sovereignty or something.

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

Michael McDowell: I would like to get a copy of Professor McCrudden's published paper.

Seanad: Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information) Bill 2017: Second Stage (24 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: The group to which Senator Mullen and myself belong is not one bound by ideology or a viewpoint at all. I have to say that I profoundly disagree with what I have just heard. The Bill is timely.

Seanad: Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information) Bill 2017: Second Stage (24 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am indeed and that shows what real liberalism is about. I strongly support Senator Bacik's Bill and the ideas that lie behind it. It seems to me that if we were talking about any other categorisation of citizens, such as colour, religion or whatever, there would not be any argument at all about such a provision. When it comes to gender, we are told that in that context, there are reasons...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am sorry for coming in late. I was intrigued by one of the figures mentioned. Did I hear the commissioner correctly? Did he say ComReg has over several years paid over €1 billion to the Department? Can the commissioners tell me about that? Was this the product of competitions or is this a surplus generated on a reasonably predictable annual basis? How does it work out from year...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I want to be clear because I may be slow on the uptake. The €800 million is part of the figure of €1 billion. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: It is coming in pieces. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Is it something that will carry on in future as an income stream? Is it a fairly constant part of the horizon?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: That is interesting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Commission for Communications Regulation Performance Review: Discussion (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I have some important technical information. I had a broadband service to my house in Roscommon. I noticed that it was very strained because it improved in the afternoon and then seemed to disimprove. Then I tried to work out whether my neighbours were watching television or something. It turned out that the explanation was that there was condensation on a joint. As the part at the top of...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Senator Norris: I am sorry to see the demise of GLEN. I am someone who took the first steps to manoeuvre Irish public opinion and my partners in government at the time towards, first of all, the idea of civil partnership.

Seanad: Order of Business (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: They were a very responsible group of people and were very constructive at all times. I wish to echo a second remark made by Senator Norris, namely, the idea that people could be filled with such hatred towards other people that they would take out their children and take out themselves in the same moment. In this context, everyone is revolted by what happened in Manchester yesterday, and...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I do not remember them carrying out 9/11. I do not remember them blowing up innocent people right across the world. I do not see Shia people destroying young girls' lives in Nigeria. In that context, I resent bitterly the suggestion by President Trump that somehow all the evil is to be located north of the Arabian Gulf and that all goodness is now to be found south of it. Saudi Arabia is...

Seanad: Order of Business (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I believe we need a debate in the Chamber about where Ireland as a member state of the European Union stands in this new world, where grotesque distortions of truth and what we might call alternative facts are being elevated to international truth in rather alarming ceremonies held in conjunction with massive arms sales. It is, as Robert Fisk has pointed out on a number of occasions and as I...

Seanad: Public Service Broadcasting: Statements (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister and endorse what has been said about the value of public service broadcasting. I disagree with virtually nothing that has been said, although a few of the comments have been colourful. One of the major functions of public service broadcasting is to act as a counterbalance to the counter-factual news spread on social media. In keeping up standards of public education...