Results 14,921-14,940 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Report on Dying, Death and Bereavement: Statements (4 Jul 2017)

Michael McDowell: I congratulate Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell on this report. I attended its launch on what was an auspicious day. I welcome the Minister, I congratulate her on her appointment and I wish her well in the discharge of her functions. I have become increasingly aware of a delay in the holding of inquests. People may die after a fall at home but it is now quite frequent, in the Dublin area at...

Seanad: National Shared Services Office Bill 2016: Second Stage (18 Jul 2017)

Michael McDowell: I strongly support this Bill and I strongly support the initiative of the Minister of State and the Government in bringing it forward. Like Senator Horkan, I take the view that, normally, when we are told another statutory body is to be created, our antennae go up for a moment. However, on this occasion, I can see the reason that it should have a statutory basis. If it is to be...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Jul 2017)

Michael McDowell: I refer to the ongoing refugee, asylum seeker and migrant crisis in the Mediterranean where there is enormous activity and in which Naval Service ships have been deployed from time to time. This morning I listened to a BBC radio programme which covered the plight of those arriving in Italy and the circumstances in which they were being kept. The Minister of State at the Department of...

Seanad: Order of Business (19 Jul 2017)

Michael McDowell: Yes. I am moving an amendment to the effect that it be taken before No. 1.

Seanad: Seanad Bill 2016: Motion (19 Jul 2017)

Michael McDowell: I move:“That Seanad Éireann resolves that provision should be made for Committee Stage of the Seanad Bill 2016 to be debated in Government time during the Autumn term 2017.”

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: I would like to be identified with the compliments that have been paid to the National Museum of Ireland and to the Office of Public Works for the huge amount of work - and the very successful work - carried out on our behalf. I acknowledge the decency of the National Museum in co-operating with the process. I want to be identified in particular with the Cathaoirleach's remarks of gratitude...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: In the circumstances, I would ask the Leader to reconfirm that the Order of Business for the forthcoming weeks will make provision for that. Second, in the context of the amount of business that we have to do in Seanad Éireann, there was an agreement in principle that there would be further room provided for Private Members' legislation if there was not a telling requirement on the part...

Seanad: Order of Business (26 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: -----on struggling families who do not have the resources to pay it and are not in a position to increase their income or to produce further income to pay what will be a crippling tax burden on them in the coming years.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: I echo the inquiries made of the Leader by Senators Grace O'Sullivan and Padraig Mac Lochlainn in respect of the Seanad reform process. We need some clarity on this issue. The main thing I want to say is that I echo what Senator Neale Richmond had to say about the need for this House to have a really good debate on Ireland's approach to the future of Europe. When one looks at Emmanuel...

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: That was Senator Manning's Bill. I did not write it.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: It should be clear that this is the Government's policy on the Manning report, not mine.

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: It is in the programme for Government-----

Seanad: Order of Business (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: I hope they do not have to wait as long as people do for Irish driver tests.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: The Senator is not going to get it. He will be at the end of the line.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: I have heard a great deal this morning. I was reminded that when the Shannon scheme was being built, one of the then Fianna Fáil Deputies, a veteran republican, Martin Corry, is reputed to have said he was opposed to the scheme for two reasons. The first was that it might flood Limerick and the second was that he was not as sure as everyone else in the House that this electricity thing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: -----so as to get away from the stuffy heads in Dublin 4 and all the rest of it at weekends. An Post has plagued us since then trying to get us to prove that we do not have a television in the house. It is curious that, if we have broadband in the house, we can look at the RTE player and not be liable for a licence fee, while, at the same time, if somebody has a normal mobile television in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: -----the computer, they would have to earn €320 gross. That is what they must get in their wage packet to bring €160 home. It is a huge burden on many families. As Deputy Stanley said, the cost is not equitably distributed among the people of Ireland when one thinks about it. If the most modest household, struggling with the greatest adversity, has to come up with...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: That is why I am here. That is why I am available this morning.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Bríd Smith will have to cut out the red meat. She is dangerous sitting in here. Coming back to the point, we need to grasp this nettle. We need to spread the cost of broadcasting more fairly. If it was collected in the way I am suggesting, that is as a fraction of local property tax, it would be more fairly, efficiently and definitely collected right across the country....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: It is unfair that based on relative property values, if one is living in a former artisan's dwelling in the centre of Dublin city, one is asked to pay more in property tax than someone living in a six-bedroom or seven-bedroom mansion in certain parts of the country. The property tax has to be reformed. I have no doubt that it will be because political pressure will be exerted in that...