Results 2,361-2,380 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: They are being lobbied.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: That is my point.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am not going there, Chairman.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am not going there. I will not be dragged into it either but I am saying that for Senator Boyhan-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: For Senator Boyhan to be slapped down as being wrong on this issue is itself wrong.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: He is speaking the truth as we all know.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: I accept that.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: I accept that. I believe that we should uphold the dignity of this House. I think that no Member of the Oireachtas should go public with a tweet saying that the conduct of the Judicial Appointments Bill in our Seanad undermines the urgent need for root and branch Seanad reform or a second referendum. No Member of the Oireachtas should reduce himself or herself to that.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: The very point I made was that section 15(6) is in the terms to which the Minister has just adverted. Let us ask ourselves what the words "where there is no consensus on a question" actually mean. They mean that there is a group, in all probability, of people who are in a minority on this issue, and that it should be determined by a majority vote. That is the situation where a majority...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: The European Commission heard the Minister's responses on a number of occasions. It is following this debate and it is clearly aware that we have amended this Bill to reduce the judicial element to less than one third of the proposed judicial appointments commission. The Commission has maintained its objection to and criticism of the Bill on the grounds set out. I am not a person who...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: Is very welcome.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: If the Government really does have unfettered discretion in this matter, how could anybody defend the proposition that it should be kept in the dark about the fact that the five presidents of the courts of Ireland, holding office under the Constitution, are opposed to a particular appointment and wish to inform the Government as to why they think it is unsuitable? If the Government has...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: Through the Chair, I want to say that there was never a situation in which any Government to which I was Attorney General or of which I was a member as Minister or Tánaiste could not ask the Attorney General what the Judiciary made of a given candidate, what he or she thought of that candidate, or who else showed an interest in the job. Such a situation still does not pertain and will...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 91h:In page 31, line 27, to delete “firstly”. This amendment is in the names of Senator Craughwell, Senator Boyhan and me. At present, section 46 reads as follows:"In advising the President in relation to the appointment of a person to a judicial office the Government shall firstly consider for appointment those persons whose names have been recommended to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: Given that this phrase is already in the current legislation and has not, so far, caused much of a problem, I do not think it does cause much of a problem. Governments are free to choose a judge for a particular office at present and not to go near the commission in the first place but this legislation is a good deal more prescriptive. It states that the Government has to first consider the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Mar 2019)

Michael McDowell: The section that is proposed to be amended would read:In advising the President in relation to the appointment of a person to a judicial office the Government shall consider for appointment those persons whose names have been recommended to the Minister or, in the case of section 44 the Government in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Even without the word "firstly", the legislation...

Seanad: Gambling Legislation: Motion (27 Feb 2019)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Gambling Legislation: Motion (27 Feb 2019)

Michael McDowell: I strongly support this motion in the name of the Independent Group of Senators. I want to acknowledge some basic truths. When I was Minister for Justice and Equality the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 came under pressure because poker clubs started being established in Dublin. Some were funded and owned by very rich and powerful people. It was clear to me that they were illegal, as...

Seanad: Gambling Legislation: Motion (27 Feb 2019)

Michael McDowell: That is illegal as well.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Feb 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No 91c:In page 31, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “45. Nothing in this Chapter or Chapter 4 shall operate to prevent the Government, where it considers that it is necessary or expedient to do so by reason of urgency or for other sufficient reason, to advise the President to appoint a person to fill a vacancy in a judicial office to which section 44...