Results 14,821-14,840 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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

Michael McDowell: I do not think it would be regarded as a humiliation for the Minister if at this stage, she said she would like to think about it further. There are an awful lot of people outside this House who would say she should get on with her Bill and leave out section 8. Those people would be well disposed to the Minister if they felt that she had listened to a debate in this House where considered...

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

Michael McDowell: Where is the majority in the Dáil?

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

Michael McDowell: They are not being pressed.

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

Michael McDowell: Is there a reason why it should not be deleted now?

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I will be brief so that the Leader can be brief as well. A report in The Irish Timestoday states that in anticipation of the report by the Citizens' Assembly, which is dealing with the eighth amendment to the Constitution, there is to be what is described as an Oireachtas committee. It seems, however, to be divided up among Members of the Dáil. I would like the Leader to clarify that.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am but I am not trying to anticipate any discussion there. It was just a simple question that the seats on this committee seem to be allocated in accordance with Dáil strength.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: Fair enough. Then I will be a gentleman and wait for that.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: May I interrupt?

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I intended to formally second Senator Craughwell's amendment.

Seanad: Order of Business (4 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach.

Seanad: Companies (Accounting) Bill 2016: Second Stage (4 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister to the House. I wish to dwell on a number of points that I am anxious to have clarified in the course of this debate. This is a transposition measure in the main and I share the disquiet expressed by Senator Davitt that it took so long to transpose the relevant directive into Irish law. The point I want to make above all is that in 2014, we enacted the Companies Act...

Seanad: Adult Safeguarding Bill: Second Stage (5 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I, too, welcome this Bill. I commend Senator Kelleher and all her colleagues in this House and those outside it who have helped her with this initiative. Sometimes, when we see a proposal to establish a new statutory body, we can query whether it might be easy to propose and difficult to oppose. In respect of this issue however, I think we now have sufficient experience to judge that adults...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern (6 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, here today, thank him for coming and acknowledge that, among other things, if it was not for his efforts in 1998 and 2007, in the forms of the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement, we would not be talking about the same problems today. We would be talking about very different topics. Mr. Ahern's thoughtful paper mentioned...

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (11 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I, too, welcome the legislation and support its passage in early course. It seems to me that we should do everything we can to facilitate reasonable accommodation of the companies to which this legislation will be of benefit in current circumstances and as a matter of general policy. Am I right in thinking that we are just dealing with Second Stage today?

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (11 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: It seems to me that we should be getting on with it.

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (11 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: Indeed, although it seems to me that it is not a complex measure and there is very little reason to hold back on it. The other point I was going to make is that I am slightly perplexed, although I take it on good faith from the Minister, as to why section 2(2) was inserted at all. Is it suggested that the amendment to be made by paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 1 might be made on a...

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (11 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: She can deal with it in her response. Apart from that, I wish the Minister well and I commend the Fianna Fáil Party on having created the conditions under which the matter has been brought to an early conclusion, I hope, in this House.

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (11 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: In my brevity, I omitted something I ask the Minister to address. Is the Minister in a position to say whether the Bill and the other Bill when passed will be consolidated into a single version of the Companies Act available to the public?

Seanad: Companies (Amendment) Bill 2017: Second Stage (11 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: One consolidated Act.

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I wish to move an amendment to the Order of Business proposed by the Leader. I propose that all Stages of No. 5, the Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017, be taken today. I would be disposed to withdrawing my amendment if the Leader is in a position gives the House an assurance that the remaining Stages will be taken as a matter of priority in the weeks after the Easter recess. It is...