Results 1,081-1,100 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: The former Minister, Alan Shatter, extended the period of service required for a pension from 15 to 20 years. I will not be too unfair but the process was strange because this provision was not referred to in the explanatory memorandum to the pensions Bill in question. This effectively means that, if someone has not been appointed by the age of 50, he or she cannot get a full pension. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Was any of this the subject of consultation with the Law Society or with the Bar? Was any of the thinking behind this bounced off them at any stage?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Was the thinking behind the scheme explained to the groups? I refer to the issue of retired judges, if that is how it is to be read. Was that ever explained?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Will Dr. Kenny and Dr. Cahillane deal with the other point?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: That is it. I am happy.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the amendment to the Order of Business to provide for a debate on the Palestine situation. I will not say anything more about it now. In raising the following issue, I am not engaging in being wise after the event. The hacking of the HSE computer system is very serious. The suggestion that other State computer systems are equally vulnerable is frightening, to say the least. One...

Seanad: Situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel: Statements (17 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. I agree with everything he said and I agree with everything Senator Joe O'Reilly said. I was listening this morning to our colleague, Senator Black, and she recited a poem that was written by a young woman in Gaza. As I listened to it, and when she got to the point of being given 56 seconds or whatever it was to get out of your home and leave everything behind, I...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Impact of Brexit on Irish and UK Businesses: British Irish Chamber of Commerce (17 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Chair. I want to welcome Mr. McGrane, Mr. Lynam and Mr. Molloy and thank them for the presentations and answers thus far. I was just reflecting that the last time Mr. McGrane and I shared platform was in the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin in the fortnight running up to the referendum. Both he and I warned Danny Finkelstein that he should not be too presumptuous about a referendum...

Seanad: Good Friday Agreement: Motion (10 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the motion. I agree with everything that Senators Blaney and McGreehan have said to date. Mention was made of the Decade of Centenaries in which we are engaged now. In 1923, the Irish Free State Government passed a Bill of indemnity stating that its own forces were completely exonerated from civil or criminal actions in respect of anything that had happened during our Civil War....

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Customs Checks and Trade Flows in and out of Irish Ports: Discussion (10 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I thank Mr. Harrahill, Ms Sheridan and Mr. Ryan for their presentations. My question is to Mr. Harrahill and is based on ignorance on my part. What are the actual mechanics of VAT payments on imports to Ireland from the UK now? Where is money paid and at what stage of the transaction is it paid?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Customs Checks and Trade Flows in and out of Irish Ports: Discussion (10 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Does that mean that if the importer has an arrangement with Revenue, the matter is resolved with payment being made on a bimonthly or other periodic basis and only those who do not have an arrangement with Revenue have to produce cash up front to secure the release of their goods? Is that the bottom line?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Customs Checks and Trade Flows in and out of Irish Ports: Discussion (10 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I thank the officials from Revenue. I understand the situation now. I was a bit in the dark about it.

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I agree with what the Leader of the House has just said about the importance of addressing these matters urgently. The damage that has been done to the aviation and tourism industries is very substantial.The damage that has been done in other sectors is very substantial as well. It is true that we were rushed by some people into hotel quarantining on a kind of wave of public anxiety earlier...

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: By the way, I did not object to that Bill but I could see there were major problems with it, including no means of enforcement at all, and ridiculous scenes in the courts since then have confirmed everything I suspected of it. The reason Ireland has been most vulnerable is because our health system is most vulnerable. The reason it is most vulnerable is that we have, uniquely in Europe, the...

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Sorry, that is the kind of infantile-----

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I was not in government in 2009 when the first report came in.

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Senator Buttimer is out of order but this kind of antagonistic stuff-----

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I am not being antagonistic to anybody.

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I am not. I am saying that we-----

Seanad: European Digital Green Certificate: Statements (7 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I am simply saying, and the Senator has to take this on board, that our vulnerability lies in the fact our health establishment saw a problem and did nothing about it for ten years. That is the reality. It had reports saying there was a problem and it did nothing about it. It did other things. It built children's hospitals, or started to build children's hospitals. It did other things...