Results 14,881-14,900 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (Gender Pay Gap Information) Bill 2017: Second Stage (24 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am indeed and that shows what real liberalism is about. I strongly support Senator Bacik's Bill and the ideas that lie behind it. It seems to me that if we were talking about any other categorisation of citizens, such as colour, religion or whatever, there would not be any argument at all about such a provision. When it comes to gender, we are told that in that context, there are reasons...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Border Communities Against Brexit (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome our guests and thank them for their well-argued and well-supported submissions to us. I do not want to be presumptuous, but I believe that every committee member, including those who are not present, favours a special status for Northern Ireland. The principle is probably agreed and I hope that I am not being arrogant in saying that. As Senator Mark Daly mentioned, the real...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Border Communities Against Brexit (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I said that the special status of Northern Ireland in the European Union is mentioned in the group's document and it sounds almost like as part of the European Union. The alternative is to see a special status in relation to the European Union. Perhaps it is the lawyer in me but one has constitutional implications and the other does not.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Dr. Duncan Morrow (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Since I am coming under a bit of pressure to say something I should throw in a couple of my own thoughts and maybe Dr. Morrow would address them. The question of the primacy of the Good Friday Agreement is primacy over what. At the moment it has the status of an international treaty, it is registered in the UN and is accepted in The Hague, the EU has endorsed it and so on. It has that...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Dr. Duncan Morrow (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: In such circumstances, the first issue I raised relates to what the Good Friday Agreement has primacy over. The second is that our aim is to reconcile the inevitable Brexit with the Good Friday Agreement by having as soft an impact as us possible on that agreement and its underlying values, as mentioned in Dr. Morrow's papers. I hope I am not being too controversial.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Dr. Duncan Morrow (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: What court will hear the case?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Ms Gina McIntyre (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Ms Gina McIntyre stated that timing is of the essence and that her organisation is already working on it. Had work been done on cross-Border projects and funding prior to Brexit, prior to the referendum result? In other words, was there work in train on the next programme that was then interrupted?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Professor Christopher McCrudden (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank Professor McCrudden for a very stimulating and challenging contribution. It occurs to me that lawyers are sometimes inclined to look at things as they are rather than as they might be. If a flexible and imaginative solution to Ireland's difficulties were to be found, it could be the subject of a mini-treaty to enable it to go outside the constraints of existing EU law without...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Professor Christopher McCrudden (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: It occurs to me that Senator Mark Daly is speaking about the Single Market for services. It is a lot more complex to fracture on an east-west basis than the market for goods. It may be that the best we can hope for is special status as regards goods and having to walk away from services and saying it is part of UK sovereignty or something.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Professor Christopher McCrudden (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I would like to get a copy of Professor McCrudden's published paper.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I raise on the Order of Business for the second time the impending major disaster for many Irish homeowners, particularly in the Dublin region, of the consequences of the increase in the local property tax. It is about to go up by some 50% and the European Union is now proposing that we should accelerate the revaluation.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I want to make one point. There could be two families, one of whom lives in a small red-brick terraced house somewhere between here and Ringsend, for example, and who could have a 90% mortgage on a house which cost them between €450,000 and €500,000. The other family could live in a 6,000 sq. ft. restored Georgian or Victorian villa in the midlands and, based on the property...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I took him to be proposing an amendment.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: They are following me closely.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: No; I said they are following me closely.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Tell Deputy O'Connell about that before you do that.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I did not know the Supreme Court follows the Fine Gael leadership.

Seanad: Mid-term Capital Review and Public Service Pay Commission Report: Statements (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister here to the House today. There are a few items I want to address. First, like the previous speaker, I wish the Minister well in his public service pay negotiations. It is not an occasion for confrontation and it is not necessary to divide the country into a pointless conflict between the public and the private sector. On the other hand, it is an occasion on which we...

Seanad: Mid-term Capital Review and Public Service Pay Commission Report: Statements (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2016: Second Stage (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister to the House. I have no particularly strong views on this legislation in terms of finding any major fault with it. However, I think a couple of points should be made. First, Senator Paul Daly mentioned the question of empowering gardaí to arrest people without warrant for a breach of bail conditions. We should draw some comfort from the fact that it is...