Results 15,321-15,340 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (5 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: That is good to hear, but there have been Report Stage amendments. How many hours have been given to do that?

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (5 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: He is not confined to his own Department. The Deputy Leader knows that.

Seanad: Order of Business (Resumed) (5 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: The Minister for everything can speak about everything.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 22:In page 11, line 3, to delete "6 lay persons" and substitute "5 lay persons". This proposal is to substitute the reference to "6 lay persons" with "5 lay persons". It is designed to bring about a situation in which it is very clear that the lay participation in the judicial appointments commission should not be a majority of that commission. The thinking behind this...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: I may only move the amendment.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: Under Standing Order 62(3)(b), I request that the division be taken again other than by electronic means.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: I refer to what Senator Norris said about weekend journalism. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me. I would like to remind the Members of the House of some of the things that have happened in this debate thus far, apart from the GRECO report and its non-publication, to which I will return. We should remember that the origins of this legislation predate the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: I am and, therefore, I am coming to the question of a lay majority and where it came from. We should bear in mind where it came from. My attention was drawn to an article in The Sunday Timesrecently which referred to a new book of essays on judicial power in Ireland. It referred in particular to one essay in that book that set out in detail the circumstances that led to the particular...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: Either we are to take it that the claim that the Cabinet was appointing its friends to judicial office was made by the Minister, Deputy Ross, or we are not, but it was a quote given to a respected journalist. I would prefer to accept the word of the respected journalist than any denial, which never came, by the way, from the Minister, Deputy Ross. It is a very serious matter that someone in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: The point that I was making was relates to a quick search of the Internet this morning on the question of a lay majority. On 30 October 2016, almost two years ago, in an article in The Sunday Times, Mr. Mark Tighe, another respected journalist, stated, "Shane Ross has insisted that the Independent Alliance will block the appointment of any new judges until next June, by which time he expects...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: I am asking the Fine Gael Members in this House in particular about this. I am coming to the conclusion that anything I say to Sinn Féin is wasted, especially in view of what was said earlier about the party's desire to ensure nobody with anti-republican views can get on the Judiciary in future. I ask the Fine Gael Members of this House to stand up for what they believe in. It is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: He will do nothing. There are a few Independents in Dáil Éireann who would happily tog out to sustain the Government over the next year or so if Deputy Ross flounces off in a sense of disillusioned temper because this provision does not go through. What is the particular advantage of having a majority of lay people on this commission? There is only one explanation, which is a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: It is worse than the American route.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: At least a majority in the Senate judiciary committee has a-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: In any event, I am strongly of the view that this is a misguided idea. I appeal to the members of the Fine Gael Party to do what another senior journalist, Stephen Collins, advised them to do in an article he wrote on 29 June 2017 in this respect. In an article "Fine Gael risks core values by appeasing Shane Ross", Mr. Collins stated, "Fine Gael has stumbled into a dangerous confrontation...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: We are on section 10.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: Conceding this idea of a lay majority goes against the grain. That is not my view, it is that of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, who stated, "It was certainly resisted, very strongly, by the entire Fine Gael delegation." He stated that, so why should we not trust him at least in that regard? Is he to be believed? He is to be believed because he was boasting...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: We will come to that-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: ----but it does affect the decision as to whether this function is handed over to a group which is, in the majority, composed of lay people if we are in fact handing that function to a group of people receiving a rate of remuneration which would not be appropriate given the seriousness of the business it is carrying out. We are entitled to some clarity. If I do not get in on section 10, I...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: Or a person who is issued with an indictment.