Results 15,801-15,820 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I will happily do so but I want to put on the record that I-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I made myself available for a three-hour debate this afternoon.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I want to make the point in response to-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I will finish on this, if I am allowed to say one sentence. I made myself available.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: The Government decided to talk this matter out by having the Greyhound Racing Bill 2018 spill over until 4.35 p.m.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: A number of years ago, the Department that occupies the Custom House enacted laws that enabled it to ban bedsits in Dublin. There was a four-year lead-in period for this to take place. Eventually, bedsits became illegal. They were defined as accommodation where there was any question of having to share kitchen or bathroom facilities in any building. The result of the edict from the Custom...

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: Very dangerous.

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: Perhaps either the Cathaoirleach or the Leader will explain this. Am I correct in interpreting the Order of Business as meaning that the debate on the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill will end two hours after it commences?

Seanad: Order of Business (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Leader. I just wanted to be sure about that.

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Second Stage (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. I want to indicate my personal support for this Bill in substance. Whereas one might instinctively hold back on further regulation of the employment relationship, looking internationally across the western world, both in the United States and in the United Kingdom, the republican value of having a coherent economic community in which there is not a class of the...

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Second Stage (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: If it should be there, it should be there and the fact that it arrives late is immaterial. However, section 20 states: "It shall be an offence for an employer to incorrectly designate an employee as self-employed." It also provides punishments for that offence. This is creating a criminal offence. To find out who commits this offence and who does not, it is necessary to go to section...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I have said a fair amount about section 31. I do not propose to say much more. I will outline the problem I see with the section as currently drafted.What kind of person would take a job of such seniority for five years? It seems tailor-made to exclude people who are not in the public sector or in a position to take secondment from another form of employment. There are very few people...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: What is so special about this job? There are all sorts of positions in the Civil Service and many people can remain in the public service in similar circumstances. Why has this job been selected for an arbitrary maximum duration of ten years? I do not see the logic of it. I presume the Minister will have notes from the drafting stage of the Bill, which will justify a maximum period....

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: That attitude simply will not do. I have asked reasonable questions. What is the Minister's rationale for the term of ten years? I have asked a reasonable question and I am entitled to a reasonable answer. If the Minister thinks that he can avoid giving me a reasonable answer to that question and say he will see his way to bludgeon this through, without answering simple questions which...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: With the greatest respect, I do not remember the Minister explaining the rationale for a ten year maximum limit. If he has not done so at any point until now, I am asking him, as Senator Norris asked him, to do so.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I did not call a quorum. I was asking at the time for an explanation from the Minister but he was indicating in a churlish and bad tempered way that he was not going to answer my question. I now repeat the question, because we will have to have the Fine Gael Senators back up to hear it, if necessary,

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: They should watch the Minister behaving in the way he is behaving this evening.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: Sorry Minister, we will deal with the 42 hours -----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: May I say that each section in this debate has taken less than one hour to deal with on Committee Stage? That is a fact. There has not been an excessive amount of time spent on it and there will not be an excessive amount of time spent on it. What the Minister seems to be concerned about - and let us be clear about this - is that he cannot bulldoze this legislation through.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: Yes, there is.