Results 221-240 of 18,738 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: Two points arise from that. I forgot to mention subparagraph (i), which refers to "the concentration of a controlled drug or psychoactive substance required to be present to yield a positive result in a sample". That is a quantitative decision to be made. Will it be the same as the Road Traffic Act or will it be something-----

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: I do not believe that this is particularly the case. For instance, under the road traffic legislation, the mere fact that a person may have a controlled drug like a steroid in his or her bloodstream does not automatically mean that he or she is committing an offence. These matters are provided for by statute. The point that worries me somewhat is a very simple one. When I was Minister for...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: I notice that the penalty for contravening Section 258(A) is a fine only on summary conviction. Is it the case that no greater penalty than a fine can be imposed for repeat offenders and the like? Is there any way to take on people who consistently and repeatedly usurp the term "Óglaigh na hÉireann" to describe terrorist organisations? A fine may not be of much use to achieve...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: With regard to this proposal, I must express continuing astonishment that the Bill is in its present form, in view especially of the almost unanimous view of elected representatives in both Houses that this is problematic. The use of the party Whip to push it through is strange indeed. Proposed section 321(3) states, "The External Oversight Body shall be independent in the performance of...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: Looking at the Bill, this is not a temporary institution.It is a body corporate intended to be a permanent part of the Defence Forces. It is not there to just deal with the urgent requirement - and I totally agree with the Tánaiste - for a change of culture, particularly in relation to certain aspects of the Defence Forces, including the treatment of women and how dissent is handled....

Seanad: Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This Bill is brought about with the aim of achieving accountability and performance and by reason of a crisis that has emerged regarding the provision of surgery for scoliosis victims in the State. There are other people with spinal conditions, such as spina bifida and others, which are also similar in the problems and challenges the...

Seanad: Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: I very much welcome the tone and content of the Minister's remarks. I did not come here to grandstand. I did not come here to exaggerate or exploit the obviously difficult situation that has arisen in respect of scoliosis and allied spinal conditions. The Minister has frankly admitted to this House that he asked the HSE and CHI how much money they needed and they said €19 million....

Seanad: Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024: Second Stage (3 Jul 2024)

Michael McDowell: Next Tuesday, with the agreement of the Whip.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I second the amendment proposed by Senator Keogan on the Order of Business. Whereas I do not share many of the views expressed in this House on in vitro fertilisation and some aspects of surrogacy that some of the people in my group hold, it is important that we have a constructive debate. There should be no emotion, just simple discussion, because there are serious issues involved. I...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024: Second Stage (25 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I propose to share my time with Senator Craughwell, if that is agreeable to the House. I will speak for eight minutes and he for two. I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I welcome this legislation. It is kind of a mixed-goods wagon in railway parlance. I accept the proposition that the Title looks a bit clunky but the Bills Office would insist the Title has to reflect the...

Seanad: Offences against the State (Amendment) Act 1998 and Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act 2009: Motions (25 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I support the two resolutions and it would be a mistake at this time to allow either set of legislative provisions to lapse. The Minister of State's speech makes reference to the attempted murder of an RUC officer and the finding of improvised explosives devices in Ravensdale, County Louth, in recent times. There is in our society a movement that still believes it is somehow part of the...

Seanad: Charities (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (25 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State. I am glad the law in respect of charities is the subject of updating legislation. I have a couple of problems I would ask the Minister of State to consider. On the provisions of sections 3 and 4, as I see it, the effect of these sections is to establish new definitions of charitable purposes for the purposes of the Charities Act. The introduction of the...

Seanad: International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Motion (19 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I do not suffer from xenophobia, racist thoughts or racist impulses of any kind whatsoever. However, I am opposed to our ratification of this pact for a number of rational reasons that depend, at the outset, on an examination of how we got here. If we go back to the end of 1999, at Tampere in Finland, conclusions of an EU Council meeting included a commitment by member states to a number of...

Seanad: International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Motion (19 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: No.

Seanad: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 1: In page 9, line 20, after “days” to insert “not earlier than 30th June 2025 as may be specified by resolution adopted by Dáil Éireann”. I move this amendment in my name and that of the other Senators. This amendment is solely for one purpose, namely to make an appeal to the Minister to create sufficient time to allow the...

Seanad: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: Arising out of the Minister’s remarks, nobody serious has said the Fagan-Kenny approach is defective or pointed out some defect in it. They have all said it is interesting, it could be so and perhaps it would yield greater results. Nobody has said the reason it is wrong or the reason we should avoid it. The only argument I have heard offered against its adoption is that it has not...

Seanad: Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Bill 2024: Committee and Remaining Stages (19 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister for her response and I acknowledge the response of my fellow Senators. In view of that response, I seek the freedom of the House to withdraw my amendment.

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (18 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State to the House and acknowledge the presence of the Tánaiste earlier in the debate. As Senator Horkan stated, there are some serious matters in this Bill that need to be addressed. I will come back to them in a moment, but to put the Bill in context, it is being put before the House at a time when the Defence Forces are crippled by at least a decade of...

Seanad: Defence (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (18 Jun 2024)

Michael McDowell: Section 11 provides for the insertion of the following as part of a new section 1A in the principal Act: Without prejudice to the Defence (Amendment) Act 1990 and any regulations made thereunder, a member of the Permanent Defence Force shall not- (a) while in uniform or otherwise making himself or herself identifiable as a member of the Permanent Defence Force- (i)make, without prior...