Results 16,581-16,600 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Exactly. One might ask at some stage why one has been on the shortlist on a number of occasions and even though other people are added to the shortlist, one is always discriminated against by the Government or the Government has it in for one for some reason. A thought process of that kind might take place. The Minister has not accepted amendments to this effect so I really want to know if...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: In his normal discretion and absolute-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----zipped mouth he makes-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----an exception on this occasion-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----and tells a newspaper man that I was short-listed. Is that a secret? Has a confidence been broken? I would like some clarity on this. For instance, would it be open to a Minister to say that Senator Norris has been short-listed three times but we have no intention of appointing him? Would that be legitimate? There seems to be a mixed message coming from this legislation and I would...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I have made it clear on many occasions in this debate that the Government is entitled to seek advice from whatever source it likes. It could consult with the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice and Equality alone, or it could ask them to ask senior judges for their opinions on who should or should not be appointed to any particular office. The Attorney General could say to the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Yes. There has to be some credibility if such an approach is made to somebody. He or she needs to know that he or she is not wasting his or her time and that his or her hopes are not being raised and dashed. That is why I have a real concern. The amendment is quite narrow in its focus. If somebody is to be shortlisted, either it is a secret between the commission and the Cabinet or it is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: A journalist would certainly publish it; that is the point. Is this confidential information or not? I would like the Minister to be clearer on that point. He blithely says best practise is to say who was shortlisted and who was not. From my experience as a Minister, I know that where people were shortlisted for non-judicial jobs, they were told that they were on the shortlist and then if...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: We amended the section to take out the essay.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I think it is being called a committee.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Yes, subsections (2) and (3) will be gone.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: To inform the Senator, it has happened on a number of occasions. Very eminent persons have been appointed without the involvement of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board. As a matter of constitutional law, the Minister has emphasised on a number of occasions that it is not possible to pass a law stipulating that the only people who can be appointed are those recommended by the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Yes, that is correct. I am not suggesting somebody is likely to say on "Prime Time" that he or she has been turned down by the Government. I cannot imagine a lawyer in whose interests it would be to do that.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Yes, I apologise. The person would have been turned down by the commission. It would be of huge interest to the media to find out who had been unsuccessful in the process. I have no doubt that it would equate to the crown jewels for some journalists to find out that somebody had been unsuccessful on a number of occasions and that the Government had turned him or her down, especially if the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: That is the worrying aspect to which I keep coming back. If it is the case that a Minister could tell his or her buddies somewhere that Senators Norris and McDowell had been on a shortlist three times and that they had been turned down every time and that this appeared in a newspaper, would it be an encouraging process for people like Senators Norris and McDowell to have in mind if they were...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: One could well imagine a situation where a coalition Government was in office-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: The more liberal party in the coalition might agitate for candidate A, while the more conservative party might argue that candidate A would not be approved and would seek to put candidate B in place. The expectation is that the process will always remain secret and that there will be no discussion in the coalition parties afterwards as to why a reactionary conservative judge was appointed to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Will we do that or just report progress? I do not mind.

Seanad: Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018: Committee Stage (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Minister shows terrible favouritism towards that Bill.

Seanad: Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018: Committee Stage (17 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I commend Senator Ó Céidigh on his initiative in bringing about this legislation and I very much welcome the supportive and co-operative approach of the Minister and his Department to the Senator's initiative. In the current climate, everyone is talking about personal injuries, fraud and all of that. Perjury is a wider issue than that. People can tell appalling lies in commercial...