Results 3,821-3,840 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2017)

Michael McDowell: They will not be happy to hear a eulogy on this House delivered either viva voceby the Senator or from the grave.

Seanad: Order of Business (13 Jun 2017)

Michael McDowell: It is a matter of safety.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with European Movement Ireland (1 Jun 2017)

Michael McDowell: Professor Brigid Laffan wrote an article recently in which she said that our response to Brexit should be a willingness to sacrifice what she termed our sacred cows, namely, neutrality and our attachment to our autonomy on corporation tax. In respect of neutrality, when we negotiated the Lisbon treaty we negotiated an opt-out on neutrality but when the people were asked to vote on that...

Seanad: Business of Seanad (31 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Some of us have other commitments.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (31 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: We were not supposed to be here until 8.15 p.m. either.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (31 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Anyone who intended speaking is here.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (31 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: In fairness, if the Minister is conducting legislation in the other House, she cannot be under massive pressure to run out of the place as soon as she can. Statements can be made at a later stage.

Seanad: Business of Seanad (31 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I suggest that the Leader moves the adjournment of the House until next Tuesday.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I raise on the Order of Business for the second time the impending major disaster for many Irish homeowners, particularly in the Dublin region, of the consequences of the increase in the local property tax. It is about to go up by some 50% and the European Union is now proposing that we should accelerate the revaluation.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I want to make one point. There could be two families, one of whom lives in a small red-brick terraced house somewhere between here and Ringsend, for example, and who could have a 90% mortgage on a house which cost them between €450,000 and €500,000. The other family could live in a 6,000 sq. ft. restored Georgian or Victorian villa in the midlands and, based on the property...

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I took him to be proposing an amendment.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: They are following me closely.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: No; I said they are following me closely.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Tell Deputy O'Connell about that before you do that.

Seanad: Order of Business (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I did not know the Supreme Court follows the Fine Gael leadership.

Seanad: Mid-term Capital Review and Public Service Pay Commission Report: Statements (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister here to the House today. There are a few items I want to address. First, like the previous speaker, I wish the Minister well in his public service pay negotiations. It is not an occasion for confrontation and it is not necessary to divide the country into a pointless conflict between the public and the private sector. On the other hand, it is an occasion on which we...

Seanad: Mid-term Capital Review and Public Service Pay Commission Report: Statements (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Seanad: Criminal Justice Bill 2016: Second Stage (30 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister to the House. I have no particularly strong views on this legislation in terms of finding any major fault with it. However, I think a couple of points should be made. First, Senator Paul Daly mentioned the question of empowering gardaí to arrest people without warrant for a breach of bail conditions. We should draw some comfort from the fact that it is...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Border Communities Against Brexit (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome our guests and thank them for their well-argued and well-supported submissions to us. I do not want to be presumptuous, but I believe that every committee member, including those who are not present, favours a special status for Northern Ireland. The principle is probably agreed and I hope that I am not being arrogant in saying that. As Senator Mark Daly mentioned, the real...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Border Communities Against Brexit (25 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I said that the special status of Northern Ireland in the European Union is mentioned in the group's document and it sounds almost like as part of the European Union. The alternative is to see a special status in relation to the European Union. Perhaps it is the lawyer in me but one has constitutional implications and the other does not.