Results 2,041-2,060 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: The second amendment in the group is No. 97cd which proposes to insert the word "other" after the word "any" in line 27. The Bill would read: "The Procedures Committee may request submissions or observations, within such period as is specified in the request, from any other person that it considers appropriate". If the amendment that the Minister has just accepted to subsection (1) is made,...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am obliged to the Minister.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Again, I express my gratitude to the Minister. This proves that we are not just wasting our time in this House on this. We are making slow but steady progress with this legislation. I take it we will now be moving on to discuss the section.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 97cd:In page 33, line 27, after “any” to insert “other”.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (28 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: On the section itself, it occurs to me that even though the two amendments have been made, about which I am happy, the procedures committee is, regrettably, still effectively going to go through its entire process without consulting the Government in any shape or form. The Government is entitled to be consulted at a preliminary stage for the reasons I explained earlier. I am not happy that...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I support Senator Craughwell on the point he raised. The Irish soldiers at Jadotville were treated very shabbily and victims of a type of conspiracy to defame and belittle them and make them feel like cowards when they were precisely the opposite. Ireland must collectively make amends to those who remain and the memory of those who have passed on. Following on from Senator Mullen's point...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (22 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Like Senator Reilly, I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, in bringing forward this amendment. This achieves, in a pragmatic but principled way, an objective which many Members of this House support which is that the Department of Education and Skills should on the one hand fulfil its function of defending the status of university in Ireland internationally and...

Seanad: Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (22 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am satisfied that our electoral base is unaffected.

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

Michael McDowell: Nobody seems to speak for County Carlow in this Chamber. Carlow came first in the divorce league, as reported in today's newspapers, and there is not a word about it from Senator Murnane O'Connor.

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

Michael McDowell: I just wanted to note that achievement. Somebody has been careless enough to lose my seat on three occasions in the Lower House. I was struck by an account in today's edition of the Irish Independentregarding a Member of that House who lost her seat while on a swing in a hotel in Harcourt Street recently.

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

Michael McDowell: I just want to say two things without commenting on the merits of the case. It would appear that 55 years after Belfast City Council unlocked the swings on Sundays, the proposition is being put in court that there should be supervisors for swings when adults are using them and that it is a matter of civil liability if there are not. It occurs to me that we live in a strange world when civil...

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

Michael McDowell: That is a legitimate point to make and I do not believe there is anything disgusting or disgraceful about making it. This is not a simple issue. There is a big problem with criminalising the possession of small quantities of cannabis; it is probably a waste of everyone's time prosecuting people for it. However, decriminalising cannabis will have serious effects because it is a psychotic...

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

Michael McDowell: It is the swing vote I am worried about.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I second Senator Craughwell's proposed amendment to the Order of Business. The Bill that was debated on Second Stage last night is full of implications for the future of the private rented sector in terms of people who cannot afford to purchase homes for themselves. We cannot delude ourselves but that many of the measures in the Bill are going to reduce further the amount of rental...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Anybody who thinks it would be a feather in the Government’s cap to rush through the Bill should look around a few corners. The situation is serious. We are going to make the homelessness crisis in Dublin worse with this legislation. We are not thinking through the implications of what we are doing. Following on from what Senator Hopkins said, we must do something about insurance....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Bill is-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: This amendment is similar to several other amendments, both to this section and to others. We agreed on the last occasion that they could all be discussed together.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: Exactly, and-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I think we have passed section 49.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 May 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am very grateful to the Minister. He took me by surprise on the last occasion by acceding to the amendment we tabled in respect of the superior courts. Rather than delay the House we did not debate it. This may have implications for other bits of the Bill which will have to be revisited on Report Stage. I will go no further than that. This amendment simply proposes to insert the word...