Results 1,121-1,140 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: No. What the Law Society said is correct. It is turning the clock back, since all pleadings used to be lodged in files, and it was considered that, in most cases, that was a waste of time as the interested parties could be relied on to keep an eye on each other in any litigation. However, in the context of this new, fairly tough regime whereby, if one makes a false claim or swears a false...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is broken.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: We have had many people chancing their arm in pleadings who bring cases to the door of the court and when confronted with the fact that they will be exposed, they simply walk away from the matter. What is important under this new regime is that it will not be a matter of walking away or the defendant not pursuing the issue in the circumstances. There will be an official record so that...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will consider whether seven days is too draconian. However, the section in its entirety is not draconian because it states that "7 days after the service of the pleading concerned or such longer period as the court may direct or the parties may agree". There is a good deal of flexibility there. Legal people usually are reasonable with each other. They do not want to go to court and get a...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: That is already covered.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will have a look at it, but I am not sure that it is not already implicit.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: This is a point on which I would resign as Minister if I had to back down on it. It is a comma. If it were accepted, the next comma would have to be deleted as well, so I am not accepting it.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: The amendment appears reasonable and I will consider it for Report Stage.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I know where the Senator is coming from, but I am reluctant to accept that this amendment is necessary. I will consider the matter further and return to it, if necessary.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: The point about this is that the court has directed it should happen. Therefore, if the court requires people to do "unreasonable things", where are we? I do not believe it is necessary to include it. If a court directs one to attend a mediation conference, to say, in effect, that one now has reason not to do so suggests that one may disobey a direction from the court on the grounds that one...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: They were deliberately drafted in that way.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: At present rules of court are devised by autonomous committees and I have to countersign them. However, I have no right of initiative in these matters. I want to create a right of initiative for the Minister as regards these time periods. I do not want to be totally reliant on the rules committees in arriving at a set of time periods.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not want to be in any way dismissive of the rules committees because their members are mainly volunteers and they work hard. However, sometimes there are areas where the Minister should have the power of initiative, as opposed to waiting until something is done and then signing off on it. This is one of those cases. I do not want to make any broader observations on the rules committees....

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I had the opportunity to meet with and address the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business on two occasions last year. In the course of those discussions it was clear the committee wished to ensure the courts had regard to the Book of Quantum being prepared by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. This has become very topical because a Book of Quantum is emerging. In the...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is to have regard to it, not to follow it.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I want to make it clear to judges that they are expected to have regard to the contents of this Book of Quantum, that it is their legal duty to have regard to it and to consult it. I do not want a price list that is invariable in every case which counsel could consult and say a case is worth a given amount and that is it. Injuries vary from case to case, for example, a broken ankle can be...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not want to waste time but Senator Henry asked me why awards here are substantially higher than in the United Kingdom. Several factors influenced this. Juries persisted in Ireland long after they were abolished for equivalent cases in the United Kingdom. Irish juries tended to give more than those in the United Kingdom when our currencies were at parity. It is very difficult to reduce...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: It will be updated periodically. I am not in a position at the moment to say how often it will be updated. The PIAB Act, which I do not have with me at the moment, covers that. It is not something which is frozen in time; it is a document which will issue from time to time. Sometimes when one produces a guideline everybody regards that as the floor rather than the ceiling. We have to be...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: This is a new innovation, but it is not unprecedented internationally, whereby the Minister can prescribe actuarial tables by regulations for the purpose of their being referred to by the courts when assessing damages in respect of future financial loss. If one loses an income stream for the rest of one's life, at the moment in Ireland if it is a serious case an actuary comes to court and...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: This section provides that the Courts Service shall set up and maintain a register of personal injuries actions. The register shall contain the names, addresses and occupations of the parties to personal injuries actions. It does not require personal details beyond that to be available. In the old system before pleadings were no longer lodged, it was possible to look at cause books, and still...