Results 3,661-3,680 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (15 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: He is a shareholder.

Seanad: Data Protection Bill 2018: Committee Stage (15 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: He has less important things to do.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016: Committee Stage (14 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: If the Leader repeats that, we will get to 5 p.m.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom cúpla focal a rá i dtaobh ár gcomhghleacaí, an Seanadóir Trevor Ó Clochartaigh. Tá sé sa nuachtáin go bhfuil sé ar intinn aige éirigh as oifig mar Sheanadóir. Go pearsanta, ba mhaith liom a rá gur duine gealgháireach, macánta agus cairdiúil é agus guím...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: -----and we decide in this House how we vote.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: We do not succumb to lobbying from outside as to what we say, do or think, or do with our votes or with our mandates in this House.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: There are places in the world where particular interest groups, and particular national interest groups, have immense clout and where people are afraid to speak their minds on issues. In this House I would consider it not merely our right but our duty to consider legislation, and to give it a fair debate, without interference by the representative of any sovereign power. I say that without...

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: Section 58 of the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act 1947 provides that where two or more vacancies occur and the Minister is notified of them, two entirely separate elections must take place to fill the vacancies.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: There is nothing wrong with it.

Seanad: Order of Business (6 Feb 2018)

Michael McDowell: Just one per corner.

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Second Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2018)

Michael McDowell: I move that this House supports Senator Black's Bill and express my support for it. Although I have listened carefully to the Tánaiste, I believe that there is a way of finding a middle ground between the flexibility he seeks on one hand and the principled, correct view expressed in the Bill at its heart. All of us know that it is for the Executive to conduct Irish foreign policy and...

Seanad: Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018: Second Stage (Resumed) (30 Jan 2018)

Michael McDowell: -----and this is what the Bill is all about. In view of the fact that the Tánaiste has indicated in writing to Senator Higgins, Senator Black and others that the Government will come back to this before the summer and in Government time, and the clear opportunity for us to amend the Bill to say that it is to be the law in Ireland but that its operation may be suspended as long as the...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Dec 2017)

Michael McDowell: I want to endorse what Senator Horkan said. We are not talking about the ultra rich when we are talking about people who are paying the marginal rate rather than the standard rate. I agree with Senator Devine that there should probably be minimum effective tax rates for everybody in this country. I would probably go further and say that there should be minimum effective tax rates for every...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (12 Dec 2017)

Michael McDowell: It occurs to me that there is a very strong case to be made for examining the issue of minimum effective tax rates across the taxation system. I know small efforts were made to achieve this in the area of income tax in the past. It is wrong, however, that a person with a secretarial post pays a much greater proportion of her or his salary in tax than some of the wealthiest and most...

Seanad: Public Service Pay and Pensions Bill 2017: Second Stage (12 Dec 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the unwinding of the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, reductions and adjustments as it makes sense at this stage. Of course, there is another angle at which we have to look, namely, those areas where there is two-tier remuneration, with a view to ensuring it is equalised or got rid of as soon as possible, unless there is a very strong case that the prior...

Seanad: Garda Overtime Budget: Statements (29 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister to the House. Like Senator Clifford-Lee, I believe questions are to be asked. I appreciate that the Minister is putting a good gloss on what happened and that it has been a tough week for him. There is no doubt that Assistant Commissioner Leahy's statement went out and the reaction from the public was one of dismay. There was a reaction among many gardaí, who...

Seanad: Order of Business (28 Nov 2017)

Michael McDowell: I wish to be associated with the words Senator Boyhan spoke on behalf of our group in respect of Senator Landy. As one of the radicals in this House I say there should be more of us. On the way to the House this morning I was listening to my car radio and wondering about current political events when an ad break took place. I do not know how many other Members heard the particular...