Results 2,881-2,900 of 18,727 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017: Second Stage (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: If it should be there, it should be there and the fact that it arrives late is immaterial. However, section 20 states: "It shall be an offence for an employer to incorrectly designate an employee as self-employed." It also provides punishments for that offence. This is creating a criminal offence. To find out who commits this offence and who does not, it is necessary to go to section...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I have said a fair amount about section 31. I do not propose to say much more. I will outline the problem I see with the section as currently drafted.What kind of person would take a job of such seniority for five years? It seems tailor-made to exclude people who are not in the public sector or in a position to take secondment from another form of employment. There are very few people...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: What is so special about this job? There are all sorts of positions in the Civil Service and many people can remain in the public service in similar circumstances. Why has this job been selected for an arbitrary maximum duration of ten years? I do not see the logic of it. I presume the Minister will have notes from the drafting stage of the Bill, which will justify a maximum period....

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: That attitude simply will not do. I have asked reasonable questions. What is the Minister's rationale for the term of ten years? I have asked a reasonable question and I am entitled to a reasonable answer. If the Minister thinks that he can avoid giving me a reasonable answer to that question and say he will see his way to bludgeon this through, without answering simple questions which...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: With the greatest respect, I do not remember the Minister explaining the rationale for a ten year maximum limit. If he has not done so at any point until now, I am asking him, as Senator Norris asked him, to do so.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I did not call a quorum. I was asking at the time for an explanation from the Minister but he was indicating in a churlish and bad tempered way that he was not going to answer my question. I now repeat the question, because we will have to have the Fine Gael Senators back up to hear it, if necessary,

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: They should watch the Minister behaving in the way he is behaving this evening.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: Sorry Minister, we will deal with the 42 hours -----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: May I say that each section in this debate has taken less than one hour to deal with on Committee Stage? That is a fact. There has not been an excessive amount of time spent on it and there will not be an excessive amount of time spent on it. What the Minister seems to be concerned about - and let us be clear about this - is that he cannot bulldoze this legislation through.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: Yes, there is.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I wish to inform the Minister that no less a newspaper than The Irish Timespublished an editorial last Saturday which advised him to scrap the ill-advised Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, which is being foisted upon the country at the whim of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross. It went on to say the Bill is bogged down in the Seanad because of a rearguard action...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: A great majority of Senators are opposed to the Bill, and a great majority of Fine Gael Members are being forced to vote it through against their own judgment by a party Whip imposed on them from outside. Let us be clear: a great majority of Senators think this is a bad Bill which should not be before us. That is the situation.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I have spoken to many of the Minister's colleagues and I am quite confident that is the case.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: If I have no evidence, is it not strange that The Irish Timesin the same editorial wrote that it is an open secret that many Fine Gael Members have serious concerns about the Bill but feel-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: -----but feel bound by the commitment to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, which was included in the programme for Government. It is a majority.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: We will call a quorum in a moment and I will ask one Fine Gael Senator who believes we should have this Bill rather than the present system to stand up and be counted. None of them has spoken in favour of the Bill on Committee Stage. Not one of them has said the Bill is worthwhile. Let us remember that before we make charges of obstruction. Not one Fine Gael Senator has stood up and said...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I asked politely about two matters, both of which are capable of being answered. Is the director a member of staff or not? If not, is he or she a civil servant, and where is the provision which makes the director a civil servant if he or she is not a member of staff? I also asked for the rationale for somebody appointed to the position at the age of 52 being required to resign at the age...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I am just making the point that I am entitled, as somebody elected to this House under the Constitution with more first preferences than some Deputies, to get a civil answer to a civil question.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: I will simplify the question again.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (20 Nov 2018)

Michael McDowell: It seems clear to me that the director is not included in the phrase "member of staff" for the purposes of section 30(6). I asked the Minister whether somebody, when he or she becomes director under section 31, wouldipso factobe a civil servant. If the person would not be a civil servant, why not, unlike the other members of the office's staff? It is a simple question and if there is an...