Results 17,761-17,780 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Freedom of Information. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am very sorry to say that I do not play a naïve game of politics like that. While I play a robust game in politics, I will not enable my opponents to spin against me without having at least the opportunity to put my side of the story into the public domain.

Freedom of Information. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will uphold the rights of a free and independent press wherever necessary.

Computerisation Programme. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am advised by the Garda Síochána that it is examining the costs and benefits of developing spatial information functionality as an extension to the PULSE system. When this has been done, the merits of developing such a system will be considered alongside other information systems priorities. In this regard, my Department has recently given approval to the Garda authorities to carry out an...

Computerisation Programme. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Garda radio network is the subject of a later question and I do not want to trespass too much on another Member's business. A proposal to roll out a €100 million to €200 million digital radio network for the Garda is under consideration and a pilot project has already been conducted. I am addressing the issue head-on.

Computerisation Programme. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not concede that. It is technologically poor by reference to the capability of a proper digital system. As Minister, I am facing head-on the issue of the introduction of a digital radio communications network for the Garda. The necessary resources will be substantial and it will require considerable effort to ensure that whatever system we chose is the right one and economical. The same...

Computerisation Programme. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I imagine that as part of the strategy for 2004 to 2009, a pilot programme to evaluate spatial technology will probably be deployed.

Road Safety. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am strongly of the view that some non-core functions carried out by gardaí could just as effectively be carried out by persons without full Garda powers. This is especially true of some aspects of the enforcement of road safety. The current provisions of the Road Traffic Acts specify that certain elements of the administration of its provisions should be carried out by members of the...

Road Safety. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not wish to anticipate the results of the working group's studies. By definition, fixed grey-box speed cameras produce a record of the kind in question. As there is no garda sitting inside the box, whatever it produces must constitute a record of a car and its speed. Nobody else is there to witness an offence. While the record is not furnished on the spot to the motorist, it is furnished...

Road Safety. (1 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am not in a position to state what the costs would be. It would be unwise to do so as there will eventually be some form of tendering process.

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: As Senator McDowell is surprised at my obeisance to social partnership, I am delighted that China and Siberia are off his holiday destination list. It is amazing what has happened since the collapse of Communism. We are dealing here with a matter of some significance. Section 7 puts a new section 11A into the Act. It allows that "an employee shall be entitled, in accordance with regulations...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am minded to refuse the amendment. Whatever merit such a scheme would have and subject to whatever controls would have to be put in place, there is no reason in the world to suggest an employer should bear this cost. It is one thing for the Labour Party or Senator Terry to suggest the Exchequer should fund exploratory visits abroad with a view to adoption. However, it is difficult to tell...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: The amendment is not reasonable. We cannot visit on employers running small companies in competition with others, in addition to the liabilities such competition imposes, an obligation to bear the expense of an employee and his or her substitute while the employee in a year prior to adoption makes a number of visits abroad for a number of weeks each time. If we want to go down that road, the...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not know.

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I presume the statistics do not differentiate between the two. I am unable to give that information to the Senator.

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: Yes, it is, and my next point is also relevant to today's debate. I can understand a proposal that the Exchequer subsidise trips abroad for the purpose of adoption if that proposal is to be part of the social welfare system, be it wise or unwise bearing in mind the other areas to which the money could be addressed. What I do not understand is a proposal that we should decide the employer is...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I sometimes wonder how any of these things would work in practice. I know that would-be adopters of foreign children make considerable sacrifices, sometimes unsuccessfully, to go to places and return with nothing or return with arrangements which have fallen through or whatever. I do not underestimate the sacrifices they make and I salute them. However, I am not dealing here with a clause of...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I remind Senator Terry to think back 20 years ago to 1983 to 1984 when this country was going through one of its worst crises ever with mass unemployment and emigration, huge taxation and the IMF knocking on our door. They were not exactly halcyon days. The success of the economy has improved things immensely and has created the leeway in which we can have minimum wages of €7 an hour. All...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Adoptive Leave Act 1995 requires that adoptive leave may only be taken from the date of placement. The purpose of the legislation is to provide an entitlement to leave from employment for adopting mothers, equivalent to that of maternity leave entitlement available to natural mothers, so that both natural and adoptive mothers, and children, can benefit from the full-time care and...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: Reviewing statutory periods such as adoptive, maternity or parental leave, is a matter for consultation and negotiation, usually by Government with the social partners through the partnership process, where the views of all relevant stakeholders are taken into consideration. The current social partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress, includes a Government commitment to amend the Adoptive...

Seanad: Adoptive Leave Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (26 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not agree with that proposition. The purpose of the Bill is simple. It is to give adoptive parents the same amount of time to bond with their child as natural parents have for their children. The two extra weeks to which we referred is not bonding time. They were given as a health and safety measure in the context of employment. The health and safety consideration simply does not exist...