Results 3,301-3,320 of 18,727 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: What does that mean?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: It is to evaluate.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: That is what I have been worried about from the get-go. It means that the Government will receive three names in the order of the commission's recommendation and never learn who else was interested. It, therefore, cannot exercise its prerogative in separately advising the President that it thinks Mary or Joe Bloggs is the kind of person it wants and is head and shoulders above the three...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: It may never know, but the Minister is arguing that the Government's prerogative remains unaffected.Any sensible Government confronted with a list of three people would send its attorney out to tap somebody else on the shoulder and say, "By the way were you not in the running, or if you are not in the running, would you consider being appointed by us because we are disappointed not to see...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: The Minister did not. He said it would be on the lines of any semi-State board.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: It means nothing.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: State boards cover a huge range, as the Minister knows. The chairman of one company and the ordinary members of some other companies can range in multiples of each other's remuneration. I deeply regret the Minister will not tell us that each commissioner will get remunerated at the senior end of State part-time appointments. If he is not willing to give them €30,000 or...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Why can the Minister not give us an indication of which end of that spectrum it will be on? It would be simple for the Minister to say which end of that scale he would asking for the remuneration of his commissioners. It makes a hell of a difference if it is €8,000 because, after tax, that will be €4,000. If there are 15 or 20 meetings a year, that becomes a negligible sum of...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I do not want to lose Senator Ruane's support.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I have to attend a Seanad reform implementation group meeting now. If the House wants to put this amendment to a vote, I am quite happy to do so.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I would be loath to cross swords with Senator Bacik. I know that what she is attempting to do is in the interests of gender balance. What she is effectively suggesting is that the Bar Council should not nominate one person but two persons.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Are we speaking about section 13 or 14?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Sorry, Acting Chairman, I thought we were talking about section 13-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: -----in the opposition of-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Yes.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: Senator Bacik had a different scheme. That the nominating bodies should-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I have no problem with the Minister seeking clarity from me. I understood that Senator Bacik was referring to her proposal that each body entitled to nominate somebody should put forward two candidates and one of each gender.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: The amendment has already been knocked on the head, I think.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: I think I actually did know what I was talking about. I think that what Senator Bacik is saying now, very clearly, is that the reason that she is opposed to this section is that she has a scheme, which she has withdrawn on Committee Stage but proposes to reintroduce by way of a Report Stage amendment-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (10 Jul 2018)
Michael McDowell: -----which will have the effect of requiring every nominating body to come forward with a candidate of each gender, so that in the end the result will be gender balanced. The Minister will appreciate that if she simply rolled over on this particular section and said that it could remain part of the Bill, it would be inconsistent with that ambition, on her part, because it would allow a...