Results 18,481-18,500 of 18,738 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003 [ Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil ] : Report and Final Stages. (4 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: Perhaps Senator Henry would convey to her colleague that if a closure order is made in respect of a supermarket which is licensed for the sale of alcohol, it will carry the consequence that the supermarket will be closed. That will not be a pretty picture. The false economy of allowing staff at a checkout counter to deal with alcohol could lead to terribly serious consequences for supermarket...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003 [ Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil ] : Report and Final Stages. (4 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: I thank Members of the House for their kind remarks and supportive approach to this legislation. I echo what Senator Moylan said about my officials who have played a very constructive role in enabling this legislation to be brought forward. They responded to the reports of the Intoxicating Liquor Commission, which only became available in April, in what I consider to be record time in the...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003 [ Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil ] : Report and Final Stages. (4 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: Nothing can be taken for granted.

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages. (3 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: I should like to present a summary of the amendments made by Dáil Éireann to this Bill which was initiated in this House in February 2002. In doing so I propose to concentrate on the amendments which I consider to be of most importance. If there are any points of detail not addressed in this opening contribution, I will be glad to facilitate Senators who raise any of these during the debate...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages. (3 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have never made any such comparison.

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages. (3 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: They must have been here for less than three months.

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages. (3 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: They were.

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] : Report and Final Stages. (3 Jul 2003)

Michael McDowell: They were debated over three days.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: The present definition states: "disorderly conduct" means any unreasonable behaviour by a person on licensed premises which, having regard to all the circumstances, is likely to cause injury, fear or distress to any other person on the premises". It must be that it is in the light of all the circumstances that it would be likely to cause these things. For instance, in the boisterous aftermath...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: The amendment includes "unreasonable behaviour which is so likely by reason of the fact that the behaviour constitutes or includes one or more of the following behaviour" to cause injury, fear or distress. Why should conduct causing damage to property have to be contingent on its being likely to cause injury, fear or distress to any other person?

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: This Bill is intended to operate until I introduce the major consolidating Act in 2004. If between now and then I think the law needs to be changed, I will do so. The phrase "quarrelsome", as it appears in the Bill, is in the existing law. It was not thought up one afternoon and written on the back of a beer mat in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in recent times.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: If it was so devised, it took place 131 years ago. The purpose of this section is to save the existing law and make it more workable. Quarrelsome behaviour is already an offence in a public house. Therefore, I am not introducing some new standard or draconian measure.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: In this context, we are dealing with people committing an offence of being drunk, but we are also dealing with the question of the publican committing an offence by permitting a person in this state to be on the premises. If anyone thinks they are doing a favour to publicans, they may be doing the exact opposite. The benign, smiling fellow snoozing in the corner may, if I extend this...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have explained that the terms "drunk" and "drunkenness" are to be construed according to what is meant by the term "drunken person". That may assist a little. When I presented the heads of the Bill to the Oireachtas joint committee, I provided a different definition which included the words "significant impairment of intellectual ability" and such like. That was a cause of much disquiet.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: That is correct. Academics said I would have to administer breathalysers and such like. The definition of "drunken person" is derived from the definition of the term set out in public order legislation. If a person is arrested for being drunk and disorderly, that test of drunkenness will apply. In view of this, I would prefer to maintain the definition.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I will accept the amendment.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: Section 6 deals with this aspect. A drunken person is required to leave a licensed premises on being required to do so by the licensee or a member of the Garda Síochána and shall not seek entry to the bar of a licensed premises. Sections 5 and 6 create criminal offences punishable in accordance with section 5(2) and section 6(3) and arrestable by a member of the Garda Síochána. As matters...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I will examine Senator Minihan's point. The law at present provides that if a licensed person permits drunkenness on a premises, he is liable to a penalty under the 1872 Act. The phrase "permitting drunkenness" is already in use. We are not dealing with a novel concept. Subparagraph (c), therefore, is an existing offence and the defence provided for it in subsection (4) is reasonable. It...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I see considerable merit in the thrust of Senator Henry's amendment and I am glad that she is not pernickety about the exact wording or whatever. On foot of what she said on Second Stage, one of my officials attended a meeting of the strategic task force on alcohol this morning. The task force discussed the issue of responses other than just the fines imposed by the District Court,...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (19 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: I will deal with the Senator's point when we come to deal with sections 20 and 21.