Results 15,381-15,400 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I propose an amendment to the proposed Order of Business, that there be a sos between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: If Senator Craughwell formally moved it, I formally second it.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: People are entitled to an evening meal.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: It is so that we can have a tea break during the long debate.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Any reason for opposing the amendment is a pretence that this matter is urgent and needs to be rushed through the House. There is plenty of time to discuss it and the only person who thinks it is urgent is one member of the Cabinet. The Minister told us it would take many months, possibly between eight and 18, to get the whole process going once the Bill is passed, so there is no huge...
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: There are another 30 or 40 Members of this House who are in a position to see if there is anybody, not necessarily from within this House, who is a worthy and appropriate candidate. This is a democratic State so we should not have shoo-ins by the arrangement of the powers that be.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I come from a group of Independents which has all the talents. We have at least three aspiring Presidents among us and I ask if any other group in the House can match that.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I certainly will.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: There are six or seven that would make all the difference.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: He might keep putting a few over the bar.
- Seanad: Order of Business (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: This amendment proposes to delete section 11(7) to (10), inclusive, from the Bill. When the House rose last night and I reported progress, I was in the middle of asking the Minister a number of things. First, I asked him what was meant by the dual function of advising and assisting the commission in the consideration of applicants at a preliminary stage in the course of the selection...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Obviously, it is.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: It is now the afternoon.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: At this stage I would like the Minister to provide some of the information I have sought to enable the House to understand how he envisages the section operating.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: It is 3.20 p.m. and the Minister does appear to be filibustering at the moment.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Yes, to conduct psychometric tests.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I do not want to be in any way crabbed, but this is a very important section, and these subsections are of crucial importance as to how this commission is supposed to work. At last we have wheedled out of the Minister the suggestion that there will be a director and a small secretariat and that that is what the commission and the commissioner's office is to be. This goes back to the point I...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: They are separate functions and one of the distinguishing features between them is that a consultant or adviser would be appointed, which has a degree of permanency if one looks at subsection (10). It is for a defined period of time. That is one thing. The other is a contract which could be intermittent and come into existence or come out of existence and be for a week, a day, a year or...