Results 16,861-16,880 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 97dc:In page 34, between lines 10 and 11, to insert the following: "53.A statement published under this Part shall state that no applicant for judicial appointment shall be questioned, interviewed or required in any way so as to disclose his or her political, religious or ideological beliefs or sexual orientation.". These matters should be off limits. Clearly one's...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: And other minorities. Things changed and we now have got to the point where if there were to be quotas of that kind it would probably be to support the members of the majority religion in this country. As to ideological beliefs, I do not think people should be asked questions about whether they were or were not a student Marxist or something of that kind, or whether they believe in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Quite clearly matters have moved significantly in that direction. If one is going to be asked questions about those matters it can only be because it is relevant or irrelevant to the question of whether one is going to be recommended. I cannot imagine why a person should be asked questions which are irrelevant to the decision to appoint him or her to judicial office. We have arrived at the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: It is now around 14 years since a Member of this House, Senator Tom Morrissey, convened a conference, A New Heart for Dublin, in Dublin Castle. My recollection is that Senator Norris chaired that conference. The proposal was that Dublin Port should be removed from its current location to Bremore in north County Dublin. A high-rise redevelopment of the centre of the city would then take...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: It is also illegal.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: There is not much point in us having Bills in this House.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: There was expenditure of €7 million on a garden.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I agree. That is a good idea.

Seanad: Judicial Council Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (20 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I congratulate the Minister of State on having the Bill passed by the House. It is approximately 15 years since I attempted to bring this legislation into reality. During the period I was Minister with responsibility for justice, I did not receive the requisite co-operation from the Judiciary, as a result of which nothing happened.I had to explain to the Dáil on a number of occasions...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I wish to be associated with the remarks in respect of the tragic death of Councillor Manus Kelly and to extend to his party colleagues, his family and his many friends in Donegal the sympathy of the Independent Group. It was a tragic event. Senator Ardagh referred to a very real issue in respect of catchment areas for schools. It is not just a local issue. I drive past the school in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: We were considering an amendment which was going to make it part of any statement published under the relevant part of the Bill that no applicant for judicial office shall be questioned, interviewed or required in any way so as to disclose his or her political, religious or ideological beliefs or sexual orientation. What I and my colleagues are intent on achieving by this amendment is the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I should examine the points made by Senator Norris carefully and respond to each of them. First, the arguments I have made that the Government can and should have regard to somebody’s ideology or outlook, whether such a person is liberal or conservative, apply to the Government. The whole purpose of what I said about that is that this is a choice for the Government alone. If the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: He has made the argument on a number of occasions that unless this Bill is brought through, the culture of cronyism will continue. I was grateful to Senator Boyhan for making an inquiry of the Courts Service as to how many appointments have been made while the Minister, Deputy Ross, was sitting at the Cabinet table. It appears it amounts to 45 at all levels of the Judiciary from the Supreme...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Government has functioned very well in this respect. If the Minister, Deputy Ross, has any views about the candidates proposed at Cabinet, he has had an opportunity within the Cabinet room to express his views and doubtless they have been listened to very carefully.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am not being mischievous in the slightest. I am pointing out what the constitutional order is, and I am making the point that the man who claims that this Bill is necessary to end cronyism-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----was party to a process which has produced excellent appointments at every level of the Irish Judiciary. There have been 45 such appointments since he took office, and there has been no controversy whatsoever in regard to any of them. Unless the Minister, Deputy Ross, is suggesting that he is personally keeping Fine Gael right on these issues by his influence at the Cabinet table, which...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Senator Conway should be aware that we are discussing an amendment which would prevent the commission from inquiring into the political, ideological, philosophical or religious views, or the sexual orientation, of candidates. Of course the charge of political cronyism is relevant in that context. Those issues could well inform a Government in its choice of an appointee. Cabinet members...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Sectarianism was so rife and so deeply ingrained in this country that people used to specify the religion of grocer's assistants, housemaids and even people coming to lodge in their property. We know this from the decision of the High Court in the case of Schlegel v.Corcoran and Gross in regard to anti-Semitism, a most unfortunate decision of the late Mr. Justice Gavan Duffy in the pre-war years.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: He ruled that a landlord with anti-Semitic outlooks could not be held to be unreasonable in refusing to allow a Jewish dentist to use the ground-floor rooms of her home in Harrington Street in Dublin because, as the judge put it, such prejudice was so notorious and ingrained that it could not be regarded as unreasonable. That is how the world was then, but it is not the same now. The third...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: It is a good one. If the Senator thinks for one minute of the contrary position, that an applicant, man or woman, solicitor or barrister, would go before the commission for interview and be asked questions about his or her homosexuality, membership of a political party, religious views or whether he or she is an atheist or theist, Protestant or Catholic-----