Results 17,141-17,160 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (21 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I wish him every success.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am sorry Senator Conway-Walsh has left.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: She is back.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am glad she is back as we were discussing the mutual recrimination that goes on between parties. It is all go now in examining political interference by one set of politicians in the affairs of another country. I was being told today that Northern Ireland is now the most neutral country in the world because its politicians will not even interfere in their own affairs.

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I was going to make two or three points. Senator Bacik referred to the availability of accommodation and the fact that this budget is doing little for housing. We have seen much investment in student accommodation and hotels but very little investment in residential accommodation by comparison. That is certain the case in Dublin city and I hope that changes. The student accommodation and...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I support Senator Norris's amendment. This body, which is intended to be established for the long term, is going to be one where the chief qualifying attribute for the chair is that he or she, when appointed eventually-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----has no qualifications or experience of how the legal profession or the legal system works of a hands-on type. It can be argued that the Bill envisages that, among the laypeople, people with knowledge of how the courts impact society will be included and that includes perhaps people from the insurance area, people concerned with family law and the like. We are still stuck with the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: One person opposed the proposition and that was Minister, Deputy Ross. He proposed that it was entirely wrong that the chairperson should be decided for the group and that it should be decided by the group. Indeed, he attended the first meeting.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: He attended the first meeting with a view to ensure that I was not made chairman of the group. Happily, that did not happen and his interest waned in the group's activities thereafter. When I say "waned", I am being very charitable; It disappeared.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I return to the principle of the matter. The commission should be allowed select its own chairperson or that somebody ex officioshould be chairperson. Those are possibilities. Senator Norris's amendment simply is designed, as I see it-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----to say that the disqualification of a person from being a chairperson, on the grounds that he or she is either a lawyer or a member of the Judiciary or whatever, should be removed from the Bill. There may be some case to be made for having the chairperson not be a judge. That case could be made because the Bill in other provisions envisages the chairperson being called before...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: It was not discussed.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: On a point of order, I never even mentioned my own amendment. I assumed when Senator Norris said he objected that the matter would be debated separately.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I never spoke about my own amendment. I merely spoke about Senator Norris's amendment.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: That would be an ecumenical matter.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 6: In page 8, line 21, after "chairperson" to insert "where the chairperson was a lay person at the time of his or her appointment". My amendment is somewhat different from that of Senator Norris in that it does not exclude the possibility that the chairperson may be a layperson but instead proposes that the definition of "chairperson" be included in the definition of...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: Academics should be capable of being chairperson of the commission and of being appointed to judicial office and retaining their position as chairperson notwithstanding their being a lawyer. My second point is one the Minister may tire of hearing but which he never deals with in a substantive response. I have repeatedly said in the course of this debate that the Minister has brought...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: The point of the amendment is simple. It is to point out to the Minister that the presence of the Chief Justice, as chair of the advisory board, has had no negative effect whatsoever on the quality of people appointed. The present system is much more likely to produce good appointees than the proposed new system. We will come to the other provisions later that deal with the composition of...