Results 17,341-17,360 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----that nothing in this Bill does away with the requirement that a local authority adopt a motion.
- Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Yes, and is the Minister of State going to do anything about it?
- Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Is this the bingo amendment?
- Seanad: Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Fair enough. I am happy with it.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I had hardly started speaking before we had to adjourn yesterday. This amendment, which is in the name of Senator Norris, seeks to limit the amount of expenditure on the new quango that this Bill is seeking to create. The Judicial Appointments Advisory Board costs virtually nothing to operate. The Minister has estimated that the proposed judicial appointments commission will cost...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: While I do not intend to press the amendment, I would like to make it clear that the Minister is keeping the door open to the possibility that this new quango will cost €500,000 a year. That is the figure he gave us when we asked about the likely annual cost of the proposed new commission.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I will press it to a voice vote.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 16: In page 9, line 13, after "Oireachtas" to insert ", provided that they shall not exceed €250,000 in any year".
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I second the amendment.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 18: In page 9, line 16, to delete "5 years" and substitute "3 years".
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 19: In page 9, line 18, to delete “not later than 12 months after the expiration of the said 5 years” and substitute “not later than 3 years and six months”.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Yes.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am aware I cannot move the amendments in my name.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: In respect of these amendments, it is my view that aspects of this legislation are unconstitutional. One of the particular aspects that I believe is unconstitutional is that this Bill seems to require members of the superior courts who have functions in respect of interpreting the law, and every judge has to do it to some extent, and constitutional interpretation functions as well to be...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 22: In page 9, to delete lines 32 to 34, and in page 10, to delete lines 1 to 8 and substitute the following: "(2) For the purposes of the section regard shall not be had to the characteristics of persons already appointed to hold judicial office, and the merit of a person shall be assessed wholly independently of those characteristics. (3) A decision to recommend...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: It applies to other things too. It applies to gender.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: It applies to all aspects of diversity. Nobody should be excluded from being regarded as meritorious merely by reason of the fact that diversity has already been achieved in respect of his or her particular background. That is all I am saying. I presume the Minister will not accept the amendment.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I will not push the matter any further.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I want to underline what we are doing here. This ministerial amendment is largely to the same effect, though slightly grammatical inferior, to the amendment in my name and Senator Craughwell's. It uses the term "Government give" as if Government is a plural, when in fact the Government is a single institution, and it should be "gives". Nonetheless, we will not be petty about that. The...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Why were we kept here for so long in making these points and challenging the very foundations of this legislation? The answer is that one man's vanity had to be appeased. He is the man who said he would end cronyism in the appointment of judges. The Minister must now accept, with the two provisions that I have drawn attention to, that the Bill does not have the effect that the Minister,...