Results 14,801-14,820 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: He was a person who paid a serious price for living by his principles in his political career. I ask the Leader to convey to his widow, Susan, and four children my sincere personal condolences on their tragic loss. I raise with the Leader a matter which is increasingly of concern to me. It is now nearly six months since the Taoiseach indicated in this House that he proposed to establish an...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: The Leader is being told who will be the chairman of the implementation group.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals and Impact of Brexit on the Irish Energy Market: Discussion (28 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: I have three questions. There has been a lot of enthusiastic comment here on the directive improving things. From Ireland's point of view, will someone explain to me what this directive will achieve that we could not achieve for ourselves? Will it give new powers to our regulator? Could we not get those powers by ourselves? I note that it is stated there are no implications for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals and Impact of Brexit on the Irish Energy Market: Discussion (28 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: Chairman, just before the next responder, I hope this is not going to be another instance, and I am not suggesting that it will necessarily be, that in three weeks time we will get data that radically differ from what we are hearing now. This committee has found things coming out three weeks after a hearing which move the goalposts very substantially. Could Dr. Cotter confirm that this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals and Impact of Brexit on the Irish Energy Market: Discussion (28 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: It was not you, Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals and Impact of Brexit on the Irish Energy Market: Discussion (28 Feb 2017)

Michael McDowell: What about the Turlough Hill station?

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: Yesterday on the Order of Business I raised the question of Seanad reform mentioned by Senator Humphreys earlier. I was led to believe by the Leader of the House that the difficulty in progressing the implementation group was failure to agree on a chair for that group. If the idea is to proceed with it at all, we should establish the group and let it select its chair. Otherwise, we should...

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (1 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: I note that in the company of our honoured guests Senator Norris mentioned the different practices in Islamic countries which are different from ours. However, every country changes with time, even Islamic and Christian countries. What is tolerable for some is intolerable for others. I do not accept the proposition that anybody with a religious sentiment is offended by the fact that those...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: I want to raise the question of the appointment of judges. We have an increasing number of judicial vacancies and it would appear the legislation which was the subject of some pre-publicity has not materialised. The court system is becoming increasingly overburdened due to the absence of judges and, most importantly, the outlook is very poor. The role of the Minister for Transport, Tourism...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: The simple fact is the composition of our Supreme Court is so important there is only one organ in our Constitution which is vested with the responsibility for it and that is the Government. Efforts to hem it in and prevent it from making appointments are, in my view, very misguided. I notice the general secretary of the Law Society advocates drawing our Judiciary from a broader spectrum of...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: They all talk about petty political criteria for putting people on the bench. The quality of judicial appointments has, unfortunately, declined in recent times due to a number of economic factors.If we allow the quality of the Judiciary to decline, we will suffer economically and internationally in the long run as far as our reputation is concerned. I ask the Leader to arrange for the...

Seanad: Order of Business (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: Arising out of what Senator Feighan said earlier, it is important for us in this House to look at what has emerged in respect of the governance of An Garda Síochána. In my view, what has emerged is disgraceful. A systematic pattern of cover-up, procrastination, deception and facade-keeping has characterised the management of An Garda Síochána. The issues with the fixed...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: That is not possible.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: This debate, which is on a substitute section 8, has, perforce, gravitated towards a discussion on the section 8 in the Bill. This is no surprise because in essence it is quite clear this section is designed to pre-empt any measure such as section 8 without a baseline data study being put in place to justify it. There are a few points we must consider on what is being proposed. The...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: It seems to me if this is one of the genuine motivating factors one would expect it to appear as one of the criteria by which regulations would be crafted, but we do not see this. In a spirit of genuine conciliation in this debate it seems to me the Minister should indicate she is open to accepting the introduction of road safety as one of the constraining factors in section 8 if her section...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: Indeed, I forgot about that. If the Minister is actually saying this is the justification for this, how will anybody control it? I come back to the point about the provision on cutting, grubbing and destroying being a nationwide operation as section 8(2) stands. There is not the mechanism, machinery, resources or capacity on the part of any wildlife agency or conservation body to do...

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: There is nothing wrong with Senator Ross's beanbags.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: Well that is one advantage.

Seanad: Heritage Bill 2016: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Mar 2017)

Michael McDowell: This is not a case of a minority of tree-huggers or people who live in some sort of idealistic world. This is a case of real ordinary people who are upset about this. It is a significant group in Irish society. As somebody who uses them myself, I cannot object to there being some order on them and if resources permitted somebody might enforce minimum standards of safety on the use of our...