Results 16,221-16,240 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: Then I really despair of this Government. The Bill would not be in its present form and be populated with all of these unconstitutional provisions were it not for the enthusiasm of one member of the Government. The Minister, who is guiding the legislation through this House, is asking us to accept as a constitutional proposition that the Attorney General should be prohibited from informing...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: That was the Minister's measure. The Minister put him on the commission. The Minister is now saying that the person involved is to be circumscribed by a greater duty of confidentiality to the commission than by a duty of frankness and-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----accountability to the people who the Constitution says he is there to advise on matters of law and legal opinion. Where does this House get the right to tell an Attorney General what she or he can tell the Cabinet about what he or she knows about-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----the availability of a person for judicial appointment when the Cabinet, because the three people put forward are not impressive, asks about Ms Justice so and so? We are now being told by the Minister that the Attorney General will be bound not to tell the Cabinet that the judge in question has applied a number of times, has never featured on a shortlist and, having applied on this...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I would be happy to report progress.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: Before I move on to amendment No. 86c, I wish to emphasise the gravity of the admissions that are being made by the people who are promoting this draft legislation. I wish to make a point that I have made a number of times.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: It would fit in here very well. This Bill will damage the quality of the Judiciary if it is enacted in its present form. It will inhibit the promotion of the best judges.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister back to the House. Amendment No. 86c was under discussion when the debate was adjourned on the last occasion. It provides that no provision of the Act "limits or inhibits the right of the Government, or of the Minister or the Attorney General acting on the authority of the Government, to communicate with a person eligible for appointment to any judicial office with a...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister's clarity on this issue except I would ask him to clarify one further point. Is it his view that such an approach will be excluded by this legislation if it is passed in its present form?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: That is a slightly different answer to the question I put. Does the Minister believe that such communication would be excluded if this Bill is enacted in its present form?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: We are dealing here with a fairly basic constitutional principle and just to say it is undesirable while denying this House the right to make an amendment to make it clear that it is possible seems to me to be attempting to use this legislation to frighten any future Government away from exercising its constitutional prerogatives. Why is it undesirable? Supposing a cabinet looks at a...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The problem with all of this is that we are faced with a situation where the Government is entitled to reject the three names recommended to it in respect, for example, of the appointment of an ordinary member of the Supreme Court. What is it to do when that happens? I do not see written into this Bill the phrase, "Sorry, try again". I do not see provision for an indication to the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----remove its discretion to the greatest extent possible and, through these statutory provisions, corner it into accepting the proposals of the commission in the form of a shortlisted candidate. I must express my deep disappointment that these amendments are not being accepted because it betokens a concerted onslaught on the true constitutional position. The true constitutional position...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Attorney General is not a member of the Government but, rather, an adviser to the Government.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Attorney General sits at Cabinet.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Three is the maximum.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: There is no long list.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Under the Bill, there is no long list.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The reason I say there is no such thing as a long list is currently, the JAAB advises the Government of the people who applied, and of the people it considers suitable for an appointment. Sitting judges do not come into the equation. What is proposed under this Bill is that the only communication that the newly formed judicial appointments commission gives to the Government is, what I call,...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Senator Norris may think that is logic but-----