Results 5,861-5,880 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: Unless their lawyers say, "You have an open goal now. You can kick the ball in as many times as you like".

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not pure venal base politics to accept his view.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the opportunity to address the House on Senator Morrissey's Bill, the subject matter of which is one of great interest not only in the Oireachtas but in the country at large. It is a subject I consider to be of the utmost importance. Senators are aware of cases in which persons have entered a house or a property without adequate excuse and with criminal intent with the result that...

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: ——the Law Reform Commission has since published a consultation paper on the subject of legitimate defence. This publication was part of a series which is being undertaken by the Law Reform Commission into the law on homicide in this jurisdiction. I ask Senator Cummins to note that the consultation paper on legitimate defence makes a clear distinction between the deployment of defence in...

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: Yes. That would include a child coming in to steal from a person's orchard.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: I listened carefully to Senator Cummins and I do not see why Senator Brian Hayes cannot listen to me.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: May I finish? Deputy Brian Hayes keeps interrupting me.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: If one excused all violence used on all trespassers in every circumstance, one would be saying that in the case of a child who came into a back garden to steal apples at whom a major stone could be thrown as a result of which he or she could have a broken neck or arm no liability would apply.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy did not propose changing the definition when it mattered. Senators should bear these kinds of situations in mind. I will deal with the Government's intentions in this regard. Senator Cummins's was very interested to hear about them.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: I intend in the next few days to put before the Government a Criminal Law (Defence of Life and Property) Bill. In that context, I intend to produce a six sectioned Bill which will deal with the issues that have been raised here.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will tell the Senator that. The Government Bill will have extensive definitions of dwellings, curtilages, arrestable offences, harm, property and the like. It will also deal with the meaning of the use of force and will describe what is and is not a use of force and when a threat of force can be reasonable even though the actual use of force might not be. It will also deal with...

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: We do not.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: On a point of order, the Senator seems to have misunderstood me.

Seanad: Defence of Life and Property Bill 2006: Second Stage (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: I told the Chair and the House that we intend to allow the Bill to proceed to Committee Stage.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: That would have been a different matter. The writer could have stated that the facts of a particular case warranted my arrest, but it looked like a statement of opinion rather than a statement of fact that I had done something unlawful. I tend to take these matters with a grain of salt. It is important to have a system of law in which people's honest opinions are statable when they are...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: Section 16(2) is the general defence of qualified privilege. This is to deal with situations where somebody says something which is factually untrue such as "You are a thief" or words to that effect. However, if the person thought on the occasion that he or she said the words that the man in question was a thief, that is an occasion of qualified privilege and as such is a defence. For...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: ——and put in the phrase, "in my opinion", that would clearly have to be taken into the equation in deciding whether this was an occasion for pleading the defence of honest opinion. Those three rules are set out there to guide the court. If I just said, "Senator A is wholly disreputable and should not be a Member of the Houses of the Oireachtas", out of the blue, without any factual...

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: This is a statement of the law relating to malice. It is based on the Law Reform Commission's recommendations.

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: The concept in the provision is that if the statement in question has no connection with the purpose of the defence, which is to allow people express honest opinions on the basis of facts, the plaintiff can prove that the defence of qualified privilege is being dragged into the defence in a circumstance where it is purely technical and should not substantially avail a defamatory statement....

Seanad: Defamation Bill 2006: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: It is not the defendant's defence; it is the statutory defence.