Results 3,121-3,140 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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."...

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

Michael McDowell: It is stated the advances to the commission under section 23 are in addition to those moneys. Are we talking about the same moneys or different moneys? How is it that payments to the office are dealt with under section 30(2) and the advances to the commission are dealt with under section 23, which states the measure does not apply to other provisions in the legislation for the payment of moneys.

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

Michael McDowell: I was surprised to receive an email during the week from a denizen of Dublin Rathdown who told me that he had received a leaflet through his letter box. The leaflet-----

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

Michael McDowell: Curiously, it did not address Stepaside Garda station, although I only received one side of it. It features pictures of myself and, curiously, my great friend, former Deputy Alan Shatter, and describes us as "the opponents". The point that caught my attention was that it stated that the system for appointing judges in Ireland is tainted by political cronyism. Is it-----

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

Michael McDowell: Indeed. It advocated a swift passage of the Bill and expressed anger at the time being taken to pass it through the Seanad. I am interested by the constant refrain from one member of the Cabinet regarding political cronyism in the system of appointment of judges.

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

Michael McDowell: I ask the Minister to reassure me, the Members of this House and the public at large, including the Minister, Deputy Ross, that there is no political cronyism in the appointment of judges and that the present system of appointing high-quality judges is not in any sense tainted.

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

Michael McDowell: I am happy to hear those reassurances from the Minister. I do not believe that he or the Cabinet of which he is a member currently partakes in any process involving political cronyism. I say that with sincerity because I have had the chance to observe the appointments that have been made, which I believe to be entirely on merit and above criticism. They cannot be legitimately targeted as...