Results 2,461-2,480 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 86g:In page 28, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: "Right of Government to advise President 41.Notwithstanding the provisions ofsection 40, nothing in this Act affects, limits or inhibits the right of the Government in any case where it advises the President to appoint any member of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, or the High Court to any judicial...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Whatever.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: This cannot apply where the Minister says, "I anticipate that we will choose this judge; therefore, I will ask the commission to seek applications for the vacancy she will leave behind her." That is not provided for in this legislation and it will not work. There is method in people's madness sometimes and there are reasons things are as they are. One very good reason the Judicial...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Yes, but-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Sorry, hold on a second, Minister. I know what I am talking about here, and that is-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: If the Leas-Chathaoirleach would let me finish this sentence I will then report progress.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: It has nothing to do with "ad hocery".
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (12 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: It is a considered Cabinet decision making provision for the situation it has just created. I want to make it clear that what the Minister is proposing will create a six-month delay where there are two follow-on appointments. We will be dealing with it at great length on the next occasion so the Minister can relax as he will have plenty of time to deal with it.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister back to the House. Amendment No. 86c was under discussion when the debate was adjourned on the last occasion. It provides that no provision of the Act "limits or inhibits the right of the Government, or of the Minister or the Attorney General acting on the authority of the Government, to communicate with a person eligible for appointment to any judicial office with a...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister's clarity on this issue except I would ask him to clarify one further point. Is it his view that such an approach will be excluded by this legislation if it is passed in its present form?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: That is a slightly different answer to the question I put. Does the Minister believe that such communication would be excluded if this Bill is enacted in its present form?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: We are dealing here with a fairly basic constitutional principle and just to say it is undesirable while denying this House the right to make an amendment to make it clear that it is possible seems to me to be attempting to use this legislation to frighten any future Government away from exercising its constitutional prerogatives. Why is it undesirable? Supposing a cabinet looks at a...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The problem with all of this is that we are faced with a situation where the Government is entitled to reject the three names recommended to it in respect, for example, of the appointment of an ordinary member of the Supreme Court. What is it to do when that happens? I do not see written into this Bill the phrase, "Sorry, try again". I do not see provision for an indication to the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----remove its discretion to the greatest extent possible and, through these statutory provisions, corner it into accepting the proposals of the commission in the form of a shortlisted candidate. I must express my deep disappointment that these amendments are not being accepted because it betokens a concerted onslaught on the true constitutional position. The true constitutional position...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Attorney General is not a member of the Government but, rather, an adviser to the Government.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Attorney General sits at Cabinet.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Three is the maximum.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: There is no long list.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: Under the Bill, there is no long list.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (5 Feb 2019)
Michael McDowell: The reason I say there is no such thing as a long list is currently, the JAAB advises the Government of the people who applied, and of the people it considers suitable for an appointment. Sitting judges do not come into the equation. What is proposed under this Bill is that the only communication that the newly formed judicial appointments commission gives to the Government is, what I call,...