Results 8,701-8,720 of 18,729 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (1 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The persons concerned arrived in the State on 6 September, 2004 and applied for asylum. Their applications were refused following consideration of their cases by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and, on appeal, by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Subsequently, in accordance with Section 3 of the Immigration Act, 1999, as amended, the first named person was informed by letter...

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (1 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I would refer the Deputy to my Reply to Dáil Question No. 152 of 27 April 2006. The up to date position in relation to the person concerned is that she has sought, through the Immigrant Council of Ireland, to be considered for residency in the State on the basis of her parentage of a child born in the State in June 2005. My officials have written to the Immigrant Council stating that the...

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (1 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I assume the Deputy is referring to the submission which was forwarded to me by officials in the Citizenship Section of my Department and a copy of which was forwarded to the person concerned with the letter conveying my decision on her application. I understand that this submission, which was compiled using a template form, refers to the applicant in the male gender on a number of occasions....

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (1 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: An application for Family Reunification from the person referred to in the Deputy's question was received in October 2004. As the person in question was informed by my Department on the 7 March 2006 the application for Family Reunification is under consideration. The person in question will be notified of the decision in due course. With regard to the status of the spouse of the person in...

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (1 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I have asked that the matter be further reviewed and will correspond directly with the Deputy on the outcome of that review.

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (1 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I wish to advise the Deputy that once a non EU national parent of an Irish born child has already registered with the Garda National Immigration Bureau it is not the policy of my Department to re-issue the notification letter advising that they have been granted permission to remain in the State. However a letter outlining the conditions and status of the permission to remain granted to the...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Order for Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I move: "That Second Stage be taken now."

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." When, last Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1935 was inconsistent with the Constitution and was not brought forward into law in 1937, an unprecedented and extremely complex set of issues was thrown up for the three arms of constitutional government, the Executive, Legislature and...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I will get it for the Deputy as soon as possible.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: Young girls who are victims of sexual predators will be challenged on their clothes, make-up and sobriety, on their presence at pubs, discos and other venues for adults, on what they said, how they appeared and acted, on what they pretended or boasted about their past and about their experience. On all these issues their truthfulness and credibility will be rigorously tested by skilled...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: In those 16 years there has been a succession of legislative measures dealing with reform of the criminal law on sexual matters, of the law relating to children and of the law relating to sexual abuse. No Member of either House of the Oireachtas has ever tabled an amendment to any of those pieces of legislation along the lines recommended by the Law Reform Commission, and for good reason....

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: They also include Nora Owen, who sat in this seat for a number of years, and the Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, who occupied the same position and published——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, published a discussion paper——

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: I appeal to you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, to maintain order.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Minister, Deputy O'Donoghue, published a discussion paper on this matter and elicited the views of the public, only a small fraction of whom supported change in this matter.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The reason for all this is the policy of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has consistently been not to make such a change for the very reasons I have outlined. Some Deputies who have spoken with passion in this House on these matters in recent times have sat at the Cabinet table while that policy position of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform was maintained...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: It has been suggested that warning signs that the law was unconstitutional were ignored. The Law Reform Commission never gave that warning. The law in question has been considered in its operation by every court in the land, right up to the Supreme Court, regularly and exhaustively. The X case is one of many examples of this. In the past ten years, there have been at least 25 cases where the...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: It has been suggested that if the Government had acted differently, the risk of perpetrators being released on foot of the CC judgment could have been avoided. That is another black lie.

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Government and I are doing all we can to ensure that the CC judgment does not unlock the gates for convicted perpetrators of heinous crimes. We are mounting a case in the Supreme Court in which we are making the case that justice and common sense and the constitutional values that protect the victim, society and the criminal justice system, and maintain certainty in the criminal law, must...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: As the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I knew immediately that this decision could have extreme consequences involving possible premature release from prison——