Results 17,641-17,660 of 18,737 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: This is a technical amendment. I ask the Minister of State to consider it. The appeal provision in section 7(2) states an appeal referred to in this section shall lie only where the relevant order concerned made by the trial court erroneously excluded evidence which is reliable and such that when taken together with the other relevant evidence would be of significant probative value in the...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: If I may say so, Senator Ward is too easily persuaded by the Minister of State. An appeal, referred to in this section, shall lie only in certain circumstances. It seems to me that what is really intended is that it shall succeed only if it is established that it is erroneous that it excluded evidence that was reliable, had significant probative value, and when taken with the other evidence...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 5: In page 11, line 19, to delete “erroneously”.

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I do not follow this at all. Amendment No. 5a was to make sure that the Court of Appeal can "allow, quash or vary the order under appeal." It is not predetermined by any previous decision. It is to allow the Court of Appeal to vary an order. This is hugely important. At the moment there is a binary provision in the Act that it either allows the appeal or quashes the order under appeal.It...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I am supportive of what Senator Ward is attempting to achieve. I do not know whether the particular mechanism by which he is proposing it should be done is the correct one. It may be of interest to him to know that when I was Minister for Justice, the exact same point occurred to me. Rather than seeking to cut across the Judges' rules, I asked the Chief Justice at the time to look at the...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) and Remaining Stages (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I support Senator Ward's amendment. This unnecessary provision to start giving juries prosecution or defence counsel speeches undermines their oath, which is to consider the evidence rather than the arguments that are put before them and to confine themselves to their judgment of the evidence. The other thing I am slightly worried about, and which I raised on the last occasion on which this...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I thank the witnesses for their presentations, which I found very interesting. One problem that I have with the scheme of the Bill that is now before us is, curiously, one which caused a problem with the previous Bill, that is the membership of the commission. It seems to be a body corporate consisting of nine people, but one of those nine people is a kind of rotational person. I cannot...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: That comes as a surprise to me. I thought Head 9(3) was to say that the barrister or solicitor it chose had to be qualified to have been a judge at the time of appointment, in other words, to have ten years' practice. I agree with Ms Keane that it is loosely worded. It could carry the meaning that she is supposing-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: It is the requisite number of years standing at the time of appointment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I do not know which they are driving at. It would be very frightening if it was all former judges, I must say.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: The former Minister, Alan Shatter, extended the period of service required for a pension from 15 to 20 years. I will not be too unfair but the process was strange because this provision was not referred to in the explanatory memorandum to the pensions Bill in question. This effectively means that, if someone has not been appointed by the age of 50, he or she cannot get a full pension. It...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Was any of this the subject of consultation with the Law Society or with the Bar? Was any of the thinking behind this bounced off them at any stage?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Was the thinking behind the scheme explained to the groups? I refer to the issue of retired judges, if that is how it is to be read. Was that ever explained?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Will Dr. Kenny and Dr. Cahillane deal with the other point?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2020: Discussion (18 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: That is it. I am happy.

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (24 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister to the House and I endorse the remarks made around the House on his personal achievements as Minister. He has not, as Senator Ward said, been there for years. He has been there for less than a year and during that year he has had a torrid time. Cowardly keyboard warriors have used anonymity in the most vile campaign of abuse against him and I totally dissociate...

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021: Second Stage (24 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: Were they doing any harm?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Impact of Brexit on Irish and UK Businesses: British Irish Chamber of Commerce (17 May 2021)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Chair. I want to welcome Mr. McGrane, Mr. Lynam and Mr. Molloy and thank them for the presentations and answers thus far. I was just reflecting that the last time Mr. McGrane and I shared platform was in the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin in the fortnight running up to the referendum. Both he and I warned Danny Finkelstein that he should not be too presumptuous about a referendum...

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (4 Jun 2021)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister to the House and welcome the fact that the Government did examine the points made in this House on the last occasion and realised that it was not simply asking for a six-month extension followed by a three-month extension; it was asking this House to agree that there should be a six-month extension followed by an open-ended series of three-month extensions, virtually...

Seanad: Health and Criminal Justice (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2021: [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil] Report and Final Stages (4 Jun 2021)

Michael McDowell: No, that is not ratty. I just want the irony of what the Minister has come in here to complain about made very clear. We wanted to debate these issues in this House. We wanted more time to deal with it. We wanted to make the amendments the Minister wanted to make, but we were refused and told to push it through to one vote and that is it. That is what happened in this House and that is...