Results 15,821-15,840 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: I wish to inform the Minister that no less a newspaper than The Irish Timespublished an editorial last Saturday which advised him to scrap the ill-advised Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, which is being foisted upon the country at the whim of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross. It went on to say the Bill is bogged down in the Seanad because of a rearguard action...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: A great majority of Senators are opposed to the Bill, and a great majority of Fine Gael Members are being forced to vote it through against their own judgment by a party Whip imposed on them from outside. Let us be clear: a great majority of Senators think this is a bad Bill which should not be before us. That is the situation.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: I have spoken to many of the Minister's colleagues and I am quite confident that is the case.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: If I have no evidence, is it not strange that The Irish Timesin the same editorial wrote that it is an open secret that many Fine Gael Members have serious concerns about the Bill but feel-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: -----but feel bound by the commitment to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, which was included in the programme for Government. It is a majority.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: We will call a quorum in a moment and I will ask one Fine Gael Senator who believes we should have this Bill rather than the present system to stand up and be counted. None of them has spoken in favour of the Bill on Committee Stage. Not one of them has said the Bill is worthwhile. Let us remember that before we make charges of obstruction. Not one Fine Gael Senator has stood up and said...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: I asked politely about two matters, both of which are capable of being answered. Is the director a member of staff or not? If not, is he or she a civil servant, and where is the provision which makes the director a civil servant if he or she is not a member of staff? I also asked for the rationale for somebody appointed to the position at the age of 52 being required to resign at the age...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: I am just making the point that I am entitled, as somebody elected to this House under the Constitution with more first preferences than some Deputies, to get a civil answer to a civil question.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: I will simplify the question again.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: It seems clear to me that the director is not included in the phrase "member of staff" for the purposes of section 30(6). I asked the Minister whether somebody, when he or she becomes director under section 31, wouldipso factobe a civil servant. If the person would not be a civil servant, why not, unlike the other members of the office's staff? It is a simple question and if there is an...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: With respect, I asked whether a person who occupies the position of director will, ipso facto, be a civil servant. I am getting a different answer, namely, that somebody could be a civil servant when appointed or might not be, depending on what the Public Appointments Service-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: Does a person become a civil servant when appointed? That is the first question.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: My second question is on why, for some policy reason, a person appointed to the position at the age of 52 should be told at the age of 62 that his or her services are finally dispensed with and that he or she may not carry out the function any longer. I have not heard one solitary reason that should be the case. Saying it was in the Bill as drafted does not help us at all because much of it...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: That is not the case. If somebody who is not a civil servant is appointed under section 31 as director, and if it is conceded — it has not yet been — that he will not become a civil servant by virtue of such an appointment, then the question arises as to whether such a person should perform properly for two terms, at a maximum, up to the age of 62 and then be told, unlike any...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: Are they civil servants?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: If they are civil servants, that is one thing.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: The question about county managers is whether they are civil servants.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: If they are public servants, is the director a public servant?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: I am querying how it can possibly be that every member of staff is a civil servant while the man or woman who controls and directs them is not. I am querying why it is that such a person should after ten years cease to have any job at all. If he or she is not a civil servant, what does he or she do at the end of the ten years? Does such a person just walk out the door and say "Thank you"?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)
Michael McDowell: It has nothing to do with the private sector.