Results 15,501-15,520 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 49:In page 14, line 33, to delete ", 5 of whom shall be lay members".
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: After an extensive effort to amend section 15 and make it more sensible, we now come to consider what it looks like. It provides as follows:(1) The Commission shall hold such and so many meetings as may be necessary for the due performance of its functions. (2) The chairperson shall fix the date, time and place of the first meeting of the Commission which shall be a date no later than 3...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I am just making the point that so much care has been taken that even if somebody for some reason is in attendance, the casting vote can never go to a lawyer. That is an extraordinary provision to put in if there was an equality of votes as to whether-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Hold on a second. What boards are you talking about?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I do not know what the Leader is talking about.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Through the Chair, I have to tell the Leader that I always had misgivings about the ending of the dual mandate.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I often think that one of the slightly ludicrous side effects of the ending of the dual mandate-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I am only responding to the Leader's question.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: The point was that Senators were entitled to the same service from a local authority with respect to a constituency in which they geographically lived as a member of a local authority would be. That always struck me as an anomaly.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I sometimes think that this and the other House would have been strengthened rather than weakened by having members of local authorities sit in the Houses as opposed to other things.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: We have to be relevant and I want to be relevant.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: There is one point I do want to ask the Minister about. Subsection 15(5) says the quorum for the commission shall, unless the Minister otherwise directs, be nine members, five of whom shall be lay members. Is the Minister entitled to select a different number than nine, permanently or temporarily? Can he issue a general direction that the quorum is going to be four?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (11 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: It is my pleasure to do so. I will give the Minister time to think about these circumstances so he can give a direction.
- Seanad: Order of Business (19 Sep 2018)
Michael McDowell: I echo the call made by Senator Bacik for a real debate on the report of the Commission of the Future of Policing in Ireland. It is a very thorough and challenging document. It will require very considerable political commitment and the application of resources, not merely financial but also intellectual and emotional, in changing the culture of An Garda Síochána and supporting...
- Seanad: Order of Business (19 Sep 2018)
Michael McDowell: That is wrong.
- Seanad: Order of Business (19 Sep 2018)
Michael McDowell: Somebody who really has a challenge should have to meet very significant initial thresholds or else the process should stop immediately. The idea that one can consider appealing to the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court and then engage the activities of those courts in the process is a real problem. We should speed up the process and make it more certain. This is not the first time...
- Seanad: Order of Business (19 Sep 2018)
Michael McDowell: Senator Maurice Hayes.
- Seanad: Project 2040 and Transport Matters: Statements (20 Sep 2018)
Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister here today. This is a timely debate. I congratulate the Minister also on his script because with the exception of the development at the National Sports Campus there is not a single time or date commitment mentioned anywhere. This worries me as a general proposition because it is easy to talk about things it is intended to do between now and 2040, but when will these...
- Seanad: Project 2040 and Transport Matters: Statements (20 Sep 2018)
Michael McDowell: Who objected to the hotel?
- Seanad: Project 2040 and Transport Matters: Statements (20 Sep 2018)
Michael McDowell: I should have said that no proper cost-benefit analysis had been done.