Results 2,641-2,660 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: The point I was trying to make-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I did not. I introduced the fact that there had been a list of 36 appointments.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I wish to say for Senator Bacik's interest that when I did my tot of the 36 appointments, 16 were women, which is quite a lot. It is not 18-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----but it is as close as makes practically no difference. This Government has been exemplary in its approach to gender issues concerning judicial appointments without any assistance from the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill. One does not need all of this stuff to make good appointments and to appoint good women to the Judiciary. We will go back then to what Senator Bacik is...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: The members of the Government are not idiots. If a shortlist of recommendations is made of candidates from one to three-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am saying it is unnecessary.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: Through the Chair, I do not think it is necessary to tell the Cabinet, having received a list ranked in order of preference, that when they sit down to look at it they must consider the candidates in the same order.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I think they are capable of saying that.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: We are all elected under the PR system and we understand what one, two and three means.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am not in favour of Senator Bacik's amendments. I ask her to withdraw them in the fullness of time but it is important that we should at least have an opportunity at this stage to express some preliminary opinions if the amendments are going to stand.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I accept that.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 86a:In page 28, to delete lines 23 to 25. Amendment No. 86a, in my name and those of Senators Boyhan and Craughwell, proposes on page 28-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: Amendment No. 86a reads: "In page 28, to delete lines 23 to 25." It refers to section 41(2) which reads: "Nothing in subsection (2) shall be construed as limiting the advice the Government may give to the President with respect to the appointment by the President, under Article 35 of the Constitution, of a person to be a judge." Amendment No. 86a is connected to amendment No. 86b, which...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: That is a good point. In any event, it seems the Minister is with me on that point and he hopes to persuade the Dáil that it is mistaken in that provision. The second amendment tabled by Senators Boyhan, Craughwell and I, states that no provision of this Act affects in any way "the function and the duty", which is the important point. It is not simply an entitlement of the Government...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: It is a responsibility and a duty. If the Government believes that one person is better and more appropriate than another, it is under a constitutional duty to make the first person a judge-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Government is entitled to balance the courts in terms of gender but if it believes that one person is more appropriate than another then it is not just its entitlement to make an appointment along those lines, it is its duty to do so, full stop.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: The words "function and duty" are carefully chosen. The amendment goes on to provide that, in advising the President on appointment to judicial office under Article 35 of the Constitution, the Government will "advise in accordance with its own judgment". That must be the case. It must be the Government's judgment, based on its duty to do the right thing by the people and not to be...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: I welcome any indication of flexibility on the issues that have been raised. The Minister should remember something. He pointed out that this has been a long debate and that these matters have been raised before. Like me or any other Senator, he has been in a position to table additional amendments to cater for these issues in order that we might discuss them on Committee Stage. He has...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: Why should everything be kept opaque? What really worries me is that although the Minister might be disposed to making amendments to deal with some of the issues I have raised, the first debate is going to take place in the august Cabinet room where, thus far, there is at least one person who appears to believe that the points being made along these lines are being made in bad faith and...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (22 Jan 2019)
Michael McDowell: Perhaps I misinterpreted what the Minister read from the typescript in his possession. I thought he was signalling an openness to revisiting some of the issues he previously indicated that he was unwilling to examine. I may have been wrong to see flexibility in that regard. Maybe I am just witnessing a desire to appear to be reasonable-----