Results 2,221-2,240 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Senator Norris is a bit behind the times.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I must press it. The Leader should remember that lunch orders close at 2.30 p.m. in the Members’ restaurant.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Under Standing Order 62(3)(b) I request that the division be taken again other than by electronic means.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I have said all I want to say on this amendment.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: We are now discussing section 46 and a number of amendments that have been proposed to it. I am opposed to adopting the section for all of the reasons that have been rehearsed in the debate on those amendments, including Senator Bacik's objection and the matters referred to just now by Senator Norris. First, it should be remembered that an amendment was tabled to allow three members of the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: We have not had a clear picture. It would have been so easy for the Government to table its amendment to section 44 as part of the process. Then we could have had a clear view, when considering section 46, to understand what we were effectively agreeing by reference in the context of the Government's proposal to section 44, but none of that has been done. I do not want to be disorderly or...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: What the Minister just stated is of interest because he suggested that he is half minded not to amend section 46-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----because he is overcome by the tedium of this debate, which is a novel reason for abandoning a policy. It occurs to me that the fundamental philosophical mistake being made is that the promotional appointments - if I may use that phrase which I do not like very much - to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are, in my view, matters on which the Government should exercise its...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I do not think tedium is the word.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: These are the criteria that the Government will apply but they are the criteria which the commission is expressly prohibited from even going near. The commission cannot ask Ms Justice So-and-So her views on social issues. It cannot ask her that question. It would be acting improperly were it to decide to put her on the list because she is a liberal. That would be improper. That is what...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: When Senator Norris says political and policy, I take it he is not talking about party politics but about outlook and so on.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: It is not agreed.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 93a:In page 31, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following:"47.(1) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as requiring a member of the Commission who is eligible for appointment to any judicial office to make an application to the Commission to be considered for appointment to that judicial office.(2) A person to whom subsection (1) applies may notify the secretary...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Section 47(1) states, "The name of a person may be the subject of a recommendation to the Minister by the Commission notwithstanding that the person is a member of the Commission, but this is without prejudice to the following provisions of this section." Section 47(2) states, "Subsection (3)has effect where a person, who is a member of the Commission, has made an application under section...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: I was pointing out that section 47 envisages that where a person who is a member of the commission wants to seek to be recommended to the Minister, that person must effectively step aside from the commission and not participate in its activities at all during that process. That sounds reasonable at first blush because it would be most remarkable if a would-be appointee voted on his or her...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: Imagine if the President of the High Court was not on the shortlist and yet was supposed to participate in the commission thereafter, having been adjudicated on as unsuitable for recommendation to the Government, or less suitable than those who were shortlisted. The relationship between that officeholder and the rest of the commission would be severely tested by such an event. Supposing...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: At least comprehensive.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Minister misunderstands my motivation in proposing this measure. He ascribes it to a wider motivation, which is opposition to lay participation in the commission. I have no objection to lay participation in the commission.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Judicial Appointments Advisory Board has lay members on it. I have no problem with that principle at all. I do have a problem of saying to the Chief Justice that the Chief Justice should not chair the commission purely as a put down for the Judiciary. I do have a problem with saying that lay people must be a majority of every sub-committee as a matter of principle when that is not...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Apr 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Senator had not heard the word until recently.