Results 16,781-16,800 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am against that.

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Senator Clifford-Lee's amendment, in subsection (4), defines "lottery gain" as having the meaning given to the term under the National Lottery Act 2013. That is not confined to national lottery gains. It is a generic description of what amounts to a lottery gain and it does not have to be run by the national lottery. In fairness to the Senator, her amendment would cover non-national lotteries.

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Minister of State has indicated that in the proposed new legislation on gambling regulation the Government intends to remove from local authorities any function in respect of whether gaming machines operate in their jurisdiction. I believe that is a valuable power for local government to have. I would be against excluding local authority members having a veto over gaming machines in...

Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: Report and Final Stages (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: They are not doing it at the moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Financial Implications of the Petroleum and Other Minerals (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I have no problem with that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Financial Implications of the Petroleum and Other Minerals (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I want to make a couple of things plain. I opposed the Deputy's Bill and remain totally opposed to it for a number of reasons which I want to put on the record and I do not believe that in doing so that I am insulting the environmental movement, the children's initiative or anything of that kind. I think I am looking after those children and their interests in the long term. The simple...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Financial Implications of the Petroleum and Other Minerals (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (11 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: There is shale oil and so on. I presume the Deputy wants it to be brought here in liquefied petroleum gas containers.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: One of the issues we have not really dealt with in this term in the Oireachtas is the financing of broadcasting. We constantly hear on television and radio advertisements urging people to buy a television licence, rather than face prosecution. There are even advertisements to highlight the fact that holiday homes, caravans and the like are required to have a separate licence if a television...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I used to be progressive once.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I told the Leader we were all progressive over here but----

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: The worst is yet to come.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: The other Independent Senators and I have collectively discussed the Bill and will strongly support it. The amendment, which will extend the definition in the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 to the term "employee" when it is used in the legislation, is necessary and good. The Bill will create an offence and empower the Minister to make regulations. Those two provisions are being...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Yes, although that is another question.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Under the Constitution, this House has the right to initiate legislation. The money message veto was used in the other Chamber but the Bill before us fits exactly the same criteria. It will create an offence and require the Minister to make legislation. The threadbare and utterly unacceptable suggestion that it involves appropriating the public revenues and that, therefore, it would...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: However, our society is transforming increasingly to a cashless society where payments are made electronically and through credit cards. It is wholly wrong that this entirely positive development and transformation in how we live economically is used as a licence to plunder workers' pockets.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: That is compounded by the fact that people who receive gratuities are usually working at the coalface in various service industries like hospitality, where wages have consistently been low. It is about time this legislation was passed. If the Government has its own legislation in mind, what is wrong with letting this Bill pass this House, bringing it to the floor of Dáil Éireann,...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Government of the day took the then Deputy Alan Shatter's Private Members' legislation and ran with it. Why not run with this vehicle? What is so objectionable about it? Is the problem that the legislation comes on yellow paper and does not have the name of a Minister written on the back? If there is something wrong with the Bill, the Government should cure it. The Government cannot...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Senator Norris is forgetting his sister-in-law, about whom we never heard.

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: No, Mr. Scrooge's sister-in-law. We have to face up to the fact that this is an unusual Parliament. The Government is in a minority. The will of the great majority of Members of this House is for this legislation to be passed. I dare say that when the Bill is brought before Dáil Éireann the will of the great majority of that House will be for it to pass. Why resist it? If the...