Results 3,941-3,960 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Establishment of a Tribunal of Inquiry: Motion (16 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: Where did the Senator lodge it?
- Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I want to do something unusual and pay the warmest tribute to the Leader for his interventions in yesterday evening's proceedings on three occasions to guarantee my right to speak in depth on three sections of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015. I did not agree with the guillotine imposed yesterday and voted against it. Once the debate got under way, the Leader, however, gave me a...
- Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: -----and, in effect, swearing up on their dealings with one another? There is a contradiction between that and the Garda Commissioner remaining in office during this period.
- Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: There is another contradiction in those circumstances in that the person who is under investigation is in charge of making discovery, documentation available and so forth on behalf of An Garda Síochána to a tribunal of inquiry. People have to grasp that nettle now.
- Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that consideration of No. 1 be adjourned at 7 p.m.
- Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: Senator Boyhan is seconding the proposal.
- Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: The purpose of our amendment to the Order of Business is that consideration of No. 1 should be adjourned at 7 p.m. this evening. That means the item would be put back to another date.
- Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: It is more important that it be debated than passed.
- Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: It is not enough.
- Seanad: Order of Business (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: Yes.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I appreciate that we are on group 1, but I am a bit mystified as to why the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government has been sent in here by the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to deal with this matter. The Minister of State in his opening remarks ventured far and wide beyond group 1 and spoke about other things . Of...
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: The Minister of State took latitude, nobody interfered with it and he dealt with the broad extent of the Bill. Now suddenly the guillotine is coming down on people who want to respond to what he has said.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: This Bill is an unusual one in that is has gone from this House to the other House. It was considered by the previous Seanad and is now coming back from the present Dáil. As Senator Wilson pointed out on the previous occasion, 80% of the Members of this House were not Members of the previous Seanad which considered this Bill, and although some of them were Members of the Dáil, the...
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I agree with the idea that the term used to refer to someone in the protected category of people should be renamed "protected person". I think it is a good idea. I also agree that such people should be protected in a workable way. A legal adviser to political people who are not here in the House - this person is not a legal adviser of my own - has asked me to draw the attention of the...
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: On that basis, could I say everything I have to say in relation to the matter?
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: It seems to me that the introduction of a presumption in criminal law of guilty knowledge against an accused person is a very far-reaching and most unusual provision of criminal law. The mental capacity of the person alleged to be a protected person is a matter to be proven one way or the other by the prosecution. As I read it - maybe others will disagree with me in this regard - there is...
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I move: "That the Bill be recommitted in respect of section 21." I would prefer to have a conversation on this rather than simply firing one salvo myself.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: Section 21 of the Bill as amended.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: The Bill as amended by the Dáil? I just want to be absolutely clear.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: As passed by the Dáil or as amended by the Dáil?