Results 4,001-4,020 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I am sorry. I thought the Senator had finished.
- 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 25." This deals with the purchase of sexual services.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I have the greatest of difficulties with the provisions of this section of the Bill. I know it has had a long history. I know it has been considered at great length in a number of forums. I know it has a vocal support group among the community.I have come to the conclusion that it defies common sense and is a seriously flawed proposal. The effect of the section is to amend the Act of...
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: The Senator will be able to speak soon. Nobody has been prosecuted in Northern Ireland for this offence yet. The only good it has achieved anywhere is to render the customer liable to criminal prosecution. If members think that is a good thing, they must remember that it carries with it, necessarily, the problem of blackmail. It must do so. We are dealing with frequently exploited young...
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: Okay, her committee's report. She was the chief spokesperson for it and should not be so modest. I know there are people who passionately believe that the solution to the problem is stopping the demand for prostitution and hitting the purchaser rather than the supplier of sex for money. I know there are people who passionately believe that but they are wrong. The oldest profession will...
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: Is the Senator suggesting it should be available?
- 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 Senator Bacik on that.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: It was not an offence for the woman to take money in the past.
- Seanad: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (14 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I am sorry for interrupting.
- Seanad: Order of Business (9 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I raise proposed business in the House next week, namely, consideration of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill, as amended in Dáil Éireann. The Bill was initiated and passed in the Seanad and subsequently amended in the Dáil. It will come back to the House next week. Under the Standing Orders of the Seanad, only amendments that have been made in Dáil Éireann...
- Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Appointments (1 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: The Programme for a Partnership Government, we are told, contains the statement:We will reform the judicial appointments process to ensure it is transparent, fair and credible. We will reduce the number of suitable candidates proposed by the Judicial Appointments Commission for each vacancy to the lowest number advised as constitutionally and legally permissible by the Attorney General, but...
- Seanad: Commencement Matters: Judicial Appointments (1 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: While I thank the Minister of State for what he has said, I am increasingly alarmed by the Government's inability to admit that it has a constitutional right to appoint any person who is eligible to be a judge and that this right cannot be compromised by legislation. The words read by the Minister of State skirt around that issue. At least he has indicated some willingness on the part of...
- Seanad: Order of Business (1 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: I have an entirely fresh topic. It is approximately five years since regulations were introduced by the then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government banning the letting of what are commonly called bedsits. As a result, a huge number of tenants in bedsit accommodation found that it was no longer appropriate. It became a criminal offence for landlords to maintain those...
- Seanad: Order of Business (1 Feb 2017)
Michael McDowell: You should leave him-----
- Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2017)
Michael McDowell: I support Senator Victor Boyhan's comments on the importance of having the Minister for Justice and Equality called to the House to discuss the principle of making judicial appointments in the manner proposed by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross. It is a flagrant attack on the Constitution which gives the power to select judges to the Government which is...
- Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2017)
Michael McDowell: I know and I will be saying.
- Seanad: Order of Business (26 Jan 2017)
Michael McDowell: I will at some stage.
- Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jan 2017)
Michael McDowell: What about the Minister, Deputy Varadkar?
- Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jan 2017)
Michael McDowell: Do not forget the Minister, Deputy Varadkar.
- Seanad: Order of Business (24 Jan 2017)
Michael McDowell: What about the Minister, Deputy Varadkar?