Results 18,021-18,040 of 18,738 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: This goes to the heart of the constitutionality of this legislation. For the first time the Oireachtas is saying to the Government people may be eligible for appointment and may be entirely qualified for appointment, but because the commission believes other people are more qualified, more eligible, better or more diverse, the Government may not appoint a particular person who is otherwise...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: This is not just about recommendations but disqualifications for five people in the Supreme Court every time.That is what this commission is doing. It is disqualifying the majority of the Supreme Court every time it functions, for the position of Chief Justice. It is not just making a recommendation and giving the Government a choice; it is saying: “You may not appoint the following...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: I am sorry. I thought you were nodding at me, a Chathaoirligh.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: I am sorry about that.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: This section provides that people who are unsuccessful applicants - those who do not see themselves in The Irish Timesor the Irish Independentas having been appointed, can find out what happened, insofar as they are entitled to inquire as to whether they were recommended, and they are also entitled, if no recommendation has been made, to be informed of that fact. A person who applies is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: I see, yes.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: This section requires that: "The Commission shall, in respect of each person whom it recommends to tell the Minister", for justice in most cases, what is set out in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c). I am a bit mystified as to why paragraph (c) is there. It refers to, "the results of the interview of the person conducted, in accordance with section 46(2), by a panel of the Commission,". There...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: The interview is conducted by a panel. I do not know how it has a result. Presumably the panel reports to the commission what it thought or if it came to any conclusions that there was nothing much one way or the other about this person and that he or she is what he or she appears to be on paper. I am wondering what the "result" of a panel would be.This goes back to a point we have just...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: Now we are getting to the nub of the issue. It is going to be an interview of a person, providing some kind of description of the person based on the interview so that the Government can take that into account. That seems to be the only purpose it serves. At interview, Mr. Justice McDowell impressed us in the following four ways-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: -----or did not impress us in the following four ways, or was whatever. If it is to be of any assistance to the Government, it would have to be some kind of a description of the interview process and the kind of impression the candidate made on the panel, which is a subset of the commission. It would have to be reduced to writing, in some respect, and sent to the Government so that it could...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: The result of the interview is that the person is recommended.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: With respect, that is not what the section states. Clearly, if the person is recommended, he or she is on the short-list of three. The section states that the Government is to be told the result of the interview with each of the three people. If the Minister of State is going to say that this just means they are on the list in the first place, what is the purpose of the paragraph at all?...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: I do not take that at all and I do not think that is what this section means. If we look at paragraph (a), it states "a statement setting out the reasons it is of the opinion that the person is suitable for appointment". That is one thing the commission has to tell the Government. Paragraph (c) states it has to give the results of an interview, and the Minister of State will not tell us...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: Hold on a second, we are making it a legal requirement for this commission to set out the results of an interview, in addition to the reasons it thinks the person is qualified. That is a legal requirement we are imposing on the commission. It is not good enough to say it is the choice of the commission. If there is a statutory interview process which, due to the withdrawal of Senator...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: This section is definitely not agreed. In my view, this is a non-constitutional section that has no merit whatsoever. Section 51 purports that: "In advising the President in relation to the appointment of a person to a judicial office in the State, the Government shall only consider for appointment those persons who have been recommended by the Commission to the Minister under section 47."...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: Yes. If the Chief Justice's position is vacant-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: There would be four judges in this group, two of whom have been elected by the majority of the judiciary and two of whom hold office as presidents of two courts. They would decide whether a judge is eligible for promotion from now on. As I said in the case of the Supreme Court, we are now faced with a situation whereby, if this becomes law and has the meaning the Minister of State said it...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: Former Deputy Shane Ross argued for a version of this reform on the basis of transparency and openness.Nothing will be clearer from this as to why anybody became a judge. The unsuccessful candidates will be secret. The one thing we will know is that the Judiciary selected them, and that there were four people there as spectators, watching the process. That is what we will know from now on...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: I report progress.

Seanad: Protection of Private Residences (Against Targeted Picketing) Bill 2021: Second Stage (26 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: I support the idea of preventing people from picketing the homes of Members of the Oireachtas because they are their homes and Members are entitled to the same privacy that anybody else is at their home. It struck me that way back in 1994, a Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act was passed which provides in section 5: (1) It shall be an offence for any person in a public place to engage in...