Results 15,361-15,380 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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

Michael McDowell: I think they are dealing with slightly different topics. One is to do with expenses and the other is to do with-----

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

Michael McDowell: They are not really related at all.

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

Michael McDowell: I believe they should be taken separately.

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

Michael McDowell: I also strongly support Senator Higgins's amendment. Unlike Senator Norris, I do not think any differentiation can be properly made between lay members and non-lay members, be they judges, practising lawyers or the Attorney General for that matter, for the reason that it is not the function of the average barrister to conduct appointment interviews. Perhaps solicitors do it a bit more often...

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

Michael McDowell: They would of course be quite good at choosing good lawyers over bad lawyers but one of the very important points about this procedure is that everyone has to feel equally at home with the process if and when they are interviewed. The people conducting the process have to understand that interviews have to be conducted with rigid fairness and not give some people the idea that they are on...

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

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 29:In page 12, to delete lines 8 to 28. This amendment proposes the deletion of subsections (7) to (10), inclusive, of section 11. It is important to examine what is proposed here and to be very clear about what we are being asked to legislate for by the Minister. Subsection (7) reads: The Commission may as it considers necessary to assist it in the performance of its...

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

Michael McDowell: It is a very convoluted section. In paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (8), the idea is that consultants or advisers could, if the Minister consented, be appointed to advise and assist the judicial appointments commission in its consideration of applicants at a preliminary stage in the course of the selection procedures. What is the preliminary stage? We are not told, but presumably it...

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

Michael McDowell: I am sure we will. It goes on:(9) The Commission may, out of the resources at its disposal, pay to a person, consultant or adviser referred to in subsection (7) such fees (if any) or allowances for expenses (if any) as the Commission may, with the consent of the Minister and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, determine. (10) The appointment of a person as a consultant or...

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

Michael McDowell: They could be HR people, inclusiveness experts or diversity experts but we do not know.

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

Michael McDowell: They could be garage men or taxi drivers - we have no idea who is eligible to be appointed. Their function is to advise and assist the commission in its consideration of applicants at a preliminary stage in the course of the selection procedures. I do not understand how that can function. If there is a competition for the appointment of a High Court judge, the commission can get KPMG,...

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

Michael McDowell: Like the draftsman of the second paragraph of-----

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

Michael McDowell: Let us be fair to the draftsman.

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

Michael McDowell: How could an expert person start short-listing people for consideration by the commission? Where does that come from? Why should we permit it? If we go to all the bother of trying to ensure there is diversity on the judicial appointments commission, having appointed people who are supposed to take diversity into account, how can we allow them to appoint consultants who are free to evaluate...

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

Michael McDowell: I would have thought that if we are going to quit the JAAB process on the grounds that it was unsatisfactory, especially in respect of handling large numbers of applications and sending large numbers of recommendations to the Government, and if one is going to whittle down 120 applications to be a District Court judge ultimately to three, why is it that some outside body will enable the...

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

Michael McDowell: Exactly. What are we talking about here, and why should we tolerate this? The objections I have, and I believe they are well merited, are as follows. First, the commission is being given a broad licence to delegate an important part of its function, namely, assessment at a preliminary stage and further evaluation as to suitability, to a third party that is not a member of the commission and...

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

Michael McDowell: One of the points that was raised, which triggered in me a problem that I have with all of this legislation, is that no one has explained how it will work. People have said that it will be transparent.

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

Michael McDowell: What does "transparent" mean?

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

Michael McDowell: If I as a senior counsel of, say, 15 years seniority fill out the forms and put in my application to this body, what will I know about what happens afterwards? Will I get a rejection slip or a kind little letter telling me that, although on this occasion I had been unsuccessful, I should feel free to have another go? Will it tell me that Joe Bloggs Limited had decided at a preliminary stage...

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

Michael McDowell: This is a serious issue and I am not making a facile point. Will the Government know who was rejected by the commission and who was rejected by these contractors, advisers and so on and was not even short-listed? Will anyone know what is happening in the commission afterwards or will it simply be that three names will appear on a short letter to the Secretary General of the Government and...

Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: I am saving my voice for-----