Results 16,601-16,620 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Statement by the Taoiseach (18 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I, too, welcome the Taoiseach and thank him for his thoughtful address. I join Senator Ardagh in complimenting him, his Government and the main Opposition party on the cross-party approach to Brexit, which has been a cornerstone of our recent success in maintaining the solidarity of our allies in the European Union, who have shown us great support. The Taoiseach mentioned that today is the...

Seanad: Statement by the Taoiseach (18 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: He was asserting a truth which in those days and the decades afterwards became increasingly occluded by the power of the majority in Ireland as the two parts of this island became more and more polarised along religious lines. Things have changed in the meantime and we now live in a very different Republic. Recent referendums have shown that this is an open Republic. It is one that is open...

Seanad: Statement by the Taoiseach (18 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: In addition, we must decide where the balance between local and national powers should be struck. I will give one example that I know is politically sensitive, that is, the local property tax. Somebody in Dublin who lives in a very small house with a limited income and has much higher mortgage obligations than somebody living outside of Dublin in a much larger house but with a greater...

Seanad: Statement by the Taoiseach (18 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----they are being asked to share a burden which is unfair upon them. People of modest means are being asked to pay a disproportionate contribution to the cost of local government in Ireland generally. That is something that will have to be addressed. I know the Taoiseach maintains contact with the British Prime Minister despite all of the negative commentary in English media about this...

Seanad: Statement by the Taoiseach (18 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----Downing Street and that the temperature between the two countries is brought back to the warm relationship that existed when I was Tánaiste to the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern. Finally, I echo completely what Senator Ardagh said about the responsibility of those who have left Northern Ireland without a government for the last number of years. This is a scandal which must be...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Am I correct in stating we have agreed that subsections (2) and (3) of section 48 should be deleted? This effectively means that the section replicates a provision in the 2002 legislation in stating that, where a person has been appointed to judicial office:the notice shall, if it be the case, include a statement that the name of the person was—(a) recommended by the Commission to the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am suggesting that in subsection (1) of the section we are proposing to deal with we are making provision for section 44(1)(b), which will mean a section will have effect, even though, as far as I know, no one in this House, with the possible exception of Sinn Féin Members, supports it in its present form.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: It leaves us in a very strange position in that we are being asked to make provision for a section with which none of us agrees or, at any rate, with which the great majority of us disagree. I have repeatedly asked the Government to publish the text of its proposed amendments to section 44 in order that we can consider whether we are content to allow section 44(1)(b) to remain as it is in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: It is not acceptable that on Committee Stage in this House we are being asked to consider a section which makes provision for another section with which none of us agree and that we are not being told what its ultimate content will be. The Government has had plenty of time to make its wishes in this regard clear. The Minister need only state what he will be proposing for section 44. We can...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: We have.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 96a:96a. In page 32, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:“49. Where the Commission has in the previous three years recommended the appointment of any person to any type of judicial office, that person shall for the purposes of this Act also be deemed to be recommended to any judicial office of the same type except when the person has notified the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: There is no reason this provision should not be part of the Bill. There is no valid reason that somebody who was recommended in the short period prior to a similar vacancy arising could not be deemed to be suitable for appointment. Earlier, I was giving the example where there might be a shortlist consisting of one female and two males, where the Government appoints the female to fill a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Senator Norris may think he is being very politically correct in making such a suggestion, but now one must be cis or trans in gender terms as well as all these other things, so-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Cisgender and transgender.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Senator obviously does not read his papers any more.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Apparently, we have now arrived at the point at which people who are not transgender should identify themselves as cisgender, as Transalpine Gaul and Cisalpine-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: No.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am referring not to heterosexuals but to people who are not transgender. People, whether homosexual or heterosexual, who are content with their gender are now to be described as cisgender, so we all have to be-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: You are cis.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: In any event, when I said this amendment would do no harm, I was inviting the Minister to say precisely what harm it would do if he considers it to be an unacceptable amendment. That is all I was saying. I just wanted him to-----