Results 3,081-3,100 of 18,727 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: I want the reason for this requirement to be clearly understood. It was considered that the Minister should not suddenly propose to the Cabinet a name that he had not discussed in advance with the Attorney General. It became a procedural requirement that there should be consultation with the Attorney General of the day.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: The Attorney General when I served as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was the late Rory Brady.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: That situation existed at the time because the legal adviser to the Government - the Attorney General - was expected to be in a position to advise the justice Minister about his proposal, while also advising the Cabinet about the suitability of the person in question. The Judicial Appointments Advisory Board was in existence at the time. Maybe this has gone out of the Cabinet handbook since...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: Nobody is infallible in this area, and I do not claim infallibility here. However, I do believe that we must be in the realm of common sense. It is very clear to me that what we are proposing here is a legislative scheme to keep the members of the Government ignorant of the choices that are open to them. That is what it is about. Section 40, which states that nothing limits the advice of...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: Exactly. I am obviously not suggesting there was anything wrong with it. I am saying quite the reverse. The Government was working within its capacity to do that. However, this legislation would oblige the Minister to start the JAAB process, which will now be the judicial appointments commission, JAC, process, for any vacancy. The Cabinet would not be allowed to know the identity of...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: This is an obligation imposed on the procedures committee by subsection 5. Under paragraph (h), it shall have regard to "the need for good standards of communication with applicants for judicial office, and the provision otherwise of a good standard of service to them in respect of applications made by them under this Act".A very simple question arises. They have to acknowledge it. It...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: I am sorry. I thought it might help to shorten the Senator's contribution.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: Before I cede the floor to Senator Norris, the mere fact that there is Cabinet confidentiality cannot be used as a hood and wink basis for the Attorney General to impart, behind the secrecy of the Cabinet room, information which it would be a crime for him to divulge. In other words, we cannot say Cabinet confidentiality allows the Attorney General of the day to commit a criminal offence. I...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: On a point of order, it is not in order for the Minister to suggest to this House how it should order its business-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: -----especially when the Business Committee has decided that the House will not sit next week. The Minister knows that when he makes this futile suggestion.

Seanad: Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018: Second Stage (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: I congratulate Senator Ó Céidigh on his persistence and determination in bringing this Bill forward. It is one thing to say that one will do something but quite another to do the necessary work. I echo his words regarding the gratitude owed to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, which is open to Members of the Oireachtas, for the remarkable work that has been done. When we...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: That is a saving this House is making.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: The Minister has indicated that the Judicial Appointments Advisory Board has estimated annual costs of €50,000.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: No, it is €50,000. The Judicial Appointments Advisory Board is the existing body. It is indicated that the Department estimated the new body might cost €1 million per annum, but the Minister has revised this estimate to €500,000 per annum. Whichever way this is looked at it appears to be a tenfold or twentyfold increase in expenditure in this process, depending on...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: I was dealing with the staffing requirements of this new body and pointing out that the present arrangements are remarkably efficiently run with a very small staff. The Minister states the task of the new board will be immensely more elaborate because it will deal with selection and recommendations and with developing its own procedures. I am surprised to hear that the present Judicial...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: There would have to be strict regulation of what questions were put to an interviewee and whether they were put to all of them.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: I do not think the Senator would be eligible because he is a Member.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: I know. The body in question does not exist yet therefore.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: Those are issues which concern me. I fully understand the need to open up a subhead in the Estimates. Towards the end of the year, it is conventional and utterly unobjectionable to put in a nominal amount and to thereby create the opening in the public accounts for the expenditure of a greater amount in the year to which the Estimates are likely to have effect. However, what does a start-up...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (16 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: Section 23(2) states, "This section is in addition to any other provision made by this Act with regard to the provision of funding for a particular purpose." How does that marry with section 30(2), which we have not yet examined? The latter subsection states, "The Office shall be funded by moneys provided by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform."...