Results 3,861-3,880 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Public Service Broadcasting: Statements (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: -----who go out there and get mangled on his television programme so that his ratings can look good. It is a case of car crash dummies for politicians. I do not know why they do it but they do. It has always struck me that this is the only case where the politicians are extremely kind to the public service broadcast. If any of them had any sign of rationality, no politicians would appear...

Seanad: Public Service Broadcasting: Statements (23 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: -----but for some reason we are decent to the man and we respect his record in journalism and keep his programme going for him.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Ulster Farmers Union (18 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the witnesses and thank them for their presentation. I want to broaden it to the strategic. As I understand it, the 2020 guarantee is not very significant. The CAP is coming up for review in 2020. We are now in 2017 and Article 50 has been triggered, which will bring us up to 2019. The 2020 horizon will be on us very soon. The real question is what is Britain's policy on...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I wish to raise the issue of the Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill and the opening of licensed premises on Good Friday. The legislation was the subject of some discussion in this House prior to the break and passed Second Stage unopposed. The proposers of the Bill understand that it is the intention of the Leader to make Government time available in the near future to deal with Committee...

Seanad: Order of Business (16 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Does the Leader want us to draft the amendments or is the Department doing it?

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Representatives of the Transport Sector (11 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank the three speakers for their contributions this morning. I differ from some here in that I believe the common travel area is almost certain to survive completely unchanged by the Brexit process. While I agree that we have to look at the worst-case scenario in respect of North-South and east-west transport and movement of people, I do not believe there will be immigration checks on...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Representatives of the Transport Sector (11 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: Do not spend too much money on it, please.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid Development Strategy 2017 and Proposed Celtic Interconnector: EirGrid (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the witnesses and I thank them for coming and for the statement they made and the material they have produced. I am interested in the data centres in particular. I am looking at the four scenarios. I notice that in the slow change scenario the total demand for electricity would increase by 28% by 2030 compared to today. In this scenario the only source of demand growth is the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid Development Strategy 2017 and Proposed Celtic Interconnector: EirGrid (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: The scenario in the low carbon living graph shows data centres growing significantly, with total demand for electricity increasing by 60% by 2030 compared to today. Beside the graph is written that data centre connections would reach 1,950 MVA in 2030 and most of these would be based in Dublin. There is a series of data centre applications in the pipeline, as I understand it, and under...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Electricity Grid Development Strategy 2017 and Proposed Celtic Interconnector: EirGrid (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am aware of one instance where the strategy of a data centre operator was to have two matching plants for security purposes, one in Denmark and one in Ireland. Is it IDA Ireland that is driving this? Is a Minister asking how Ireland will comply with its sustainable targets for 20 years' time if IDA Ireland continues to sell the idea of data centres to Apple and such companies? Is anybody...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: On Thursday last in the course of the Seanad Brexit committee hearings one contribution was striking, namely, that of Mr. John McGrane, the chief executive of the British Irish Chamber of Commerce. Mr. McGrane suggested that the Government should reach out across both parts of this island to all aspects of civic society, including the industrial representative organisations, trade unions,...

Seanad: Order of Business (9 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: They are some beauties.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Industry Representatives (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank the witnesses who have contributed. I wish to zero in very briefly on what Mr. McGrane has told us about his proposal for a collective think-in on the flexible and imaginative solutions with which the European Union is asking Ireland to come forward. Throughout the morning I have been asking people where is this debate, who is driving it, are we depending on five civil servants in...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Industry Representatives (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: They will have to come from a much broader section. That is all I am saying.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Enterprise Ireland (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: It is a live issue.

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Enterprise Ireland (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: The witnesses from Enterprise Ireland are most welcome and I thank them for coming today. One of the issues in relation to trading in goods between Ireland and the UK was mentioned here by the former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern, namely, the possibility of having a common trading area. Indeed, Senators Mark Daly and Joe O'Reilly have mentioned the possibility of special arrangements in...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with Central Bank of Ireland (4 May 2017)

Michael McDowell: There are a lot of questions for Mr. Fagan there. The notion of tariff-free services has occurred to me. To take something close to home, if a lawyer in Ireland provides services to a British firm and sends a bill, in what sense would there be tariffs on the payment made? It might be a lawyer's or a financial adviser's bill. I find it difficult to grasp how, apart from the lawyer paying...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement with former Minister, Mr. Dermot Ahern (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: Like other speakers, I welcome Mr. Dermot Ahern. We spent a long time around the same table dealing with many of the problems we face here today in a different context. Two things occur to me. I do not know whether Mr. Ahern had the opportunity to see the contribution of his namesake, Mr. Bertie Ahern, to this committee recently. The latter suggested that, in addition to a common travel...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement on Citizenship Rights: Professor Colin Harvey, Mr. Liam Herrick and Mr. Michael Farrell (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I thank the contributors for their considered papers. A couple of points occurred to me. Mention was made of the possibility of immigration controls coming in the wake of Brexit. It seems to me that the United Kingdom does not propose to impose a hard border in terms of immigration controls. It seems that the United Kingdom intends to control immigration by internal controls on access to...

Seanad Committee on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union: Engagement on Citizenship Rights: Professor Colin Harvey, Mr. Liam Herrick and Mr. Michael Farrell (27 Apr 2017)

Michael McDowell: I am not suggesting otherwise.