Results 14,841-14,860 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Order of Business (12 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I withdraw the amendment.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I raise the issue of insurance premiums generally and as they affect motorists and employers, in particular. The reason I am concerned about this is that it was the case that the former Minister and Tánaiste, Mary Harney, and I, together in our respective Departments in the period 2002-2007, instituted major reforms in personal injuries law and insurance law, including the Personal...

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: Yes, I second Senator Craughwell's proposal.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: No.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: The Senator spoke to two large groups of tourists. Did they ask the Senator about it or did he address them?

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: On a point of order, I ask the Leader to include in his reply some indication of the Government's proposals to protect innocent tourists from being harangued by Senator Norris.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with former Minister, Mr. Dermot Ahern (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: Like other speakers, I welcome Mr. Dermot Ahern. We spent a long time around the same table dealing with many of the problems we face here today in a different context. Two things occur to me. I do not know whether Mr. Ahern had the opportunity to see the contribution of his namesake, Mr. Bertie Ahern, to this committee recently. The latter suggested that, in addition to a common travel...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement on Citizenship Rights: Professor Colin Harvey, Mr. Liam Herrick and Mr. Michael Farrell (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank the contributors for their considered papers. A couple of points occurred to me. Mention was made of the possibility of immigration controls coming in the wake of Brexit. It seems to me that the United Kingdom does not propose to impose a hard border in terms of immigration controls. It seems that the United Kingdom intends to control immigration by internal controls on access to...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement on Citizenship Rights: Professor Colin Harvey, Mr. Liam Herrick and Mr. Michael Farrell (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am not suggesting otherwise.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement on Citizenship Rights: Professor Colin Harvey, Mr. Liam Herrick and Mr. Michael Farrell (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: Is Mr. Farrell suggesting that the Irish Government should press the other 26 member states to somehow handcuff any exit arrangements to the idea that Britain would remain part of the Strasbourg Convention, or something like that?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement on Citizenship Rights: Professor Colin Harvey, Mr. Liam Herrick and Mr. Michael Farrell (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: One could say that if the UK wants access to our markets then it must stay within the Strasbourg Convention. The EU could say something like that.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: There are a lot of questions for Mr. Fagan there. The notion of tariff-free services has occurred to me. To take something close to home, if a lawyer in Ireland provides services to a British firm and sends a bill, in what sense would there be tariffs on the payment made? It might be a lawyer's or a financial adviser's bill. I find it difficult to grasp how, apart from the lawyer paying...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Enterprise Ireland (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: The witnesses from Enterprise Ireland are most welcome and I thank them for coming today. One of the issues in relation to trading in goods between Ireland and the UK was mentioned here by the former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, namely, the possibility of having a common trading area. Indeed, Senators Mark Daly and Joe O'Reilly have mentioned the possibility of special arrangements in...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Enterprise Ireland (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: It is a live issue.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Industry Representatives (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank the witnesses who have contributed. I wish to zero in very briefly on what Mr. McGrane has told us about his proposal for a collective think-in on the flexible and imaginative solutions with which the European Union is asking Ireland to come forward. Throughout the morning I have been asking people where is this debate, who is driving it, are we depending on five civil servants in...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Industry Representatives (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: They will have to come from a much broader section. That is all I am saying.

Seanad: Order of Business (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: On Thursday last in the course of the Seanad Brexit committee hearings one contribution was striking, namely, that of Mr. John McGrane, the chief executive of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. Mr. McGrane suggested that the Government should reach out across both parts of this island to all aspects of civic society, including the industrial representative organisations, trade unions,...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: They are some beauties.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid Development Strategy 2017 and Proposed Celtic Interconnector: EirGrid (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the witnesses and I thank them for coming and for the statement they made and the material they have produced. I am interested in the data centres in particular. I am looking at the four scenarios. I notice that in the slow change scenario the total demand for electricity would increase by 28% by 2030 compared to today. In this scenario the only source of demand growth is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid Development Strategy 2017 and Proposed Celtic Interconnector: EirGrid (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: The scenario in the low carbon living graph shows data centres growing significantly, with total demand for electricity increasing by 60% by 2030 compared to today. Beside the graph is written that data centre connections would reach 1,950 MVA in 2030 and most of these would be based in Dublin. There is a series of data centre applications in the pipeline, as I understand it, and under...