Results 4,541-4,560 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I will come back to the MacEntee report. As far as the commitment to publish Bills in this session is concerned, I understand 12 have been published, the text of two others has been approved by Government and is going to the printers and four others are about to published. This brings the number of Bills up to at least 18 before this session is completed. The session continues until the...

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: That is the way it has always been done.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I know with certainty that the ethics legislation to which the Deputy referred is one of the two Bills approved. The coroners Bill and immigration protection and residence Bill are among the four Bills to be published. I am not in a position, off the top of my head, to name all four Bills but they are on the way.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Exactly, and I hope the Deputy is up to all the voting. On the legislative load of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, a number of Bills, some of which Deputy Kenny referred to, are in the drafting stage. I am accused alternatively of not doing anything and legislating as a knee-jerk reaction to everything. I have also been accused of being a serial legislator. We cannot...

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I refer to my Department not myself. I do not want to deal with the MacEntee report yet because the Ceann Comhairle wishes to give——

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I do not want to anticipate a debate by having a half-baked debate on the subject today. The Dublin and Monaghan bombings were an atrocity and there is every reason to believe that there was involvement at some level of the security forces in Northern Ireland with some of the people involved in that atrocity. That is a serious and grave matter, which I do not believe anybody now seriously...

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I understand there are some papers relating to one individual who was apparently staying in Dublin over which a claim of privilege has been made. I have not seen these papers, which I understand are referred to parenthetically in the report. As I have not seen them, I am not in a position to make any intelligent or reasonable comment on them but I understand the nature of the claim is to...

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I understand the Bill is at an advanced stage of drafting and is very near to publication. However, a couple of matters in regard to it are still outstanding.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The text of the charities Bill was before Government last week and can be expected soon. With regard to the amount of parliamentary time available, I never cease to remark that we spend an hour every day discussing what we would do if we had the time.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: I am not in a position to answer that.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: If the Deputy gets back to us on 24 April, we will deal with it then.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: That is due for publication in early summer.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Taoiseach dealt with that issue recently. I point out to the Deputy that Sinn Féin is the only party in the Dáil that opposes all private medicine.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Other parties do not have a problem with St. Vincent's private nursing home and other such places. As the Tánaiste has said on a number of occasions, her aim is to ensure that all public beds ——

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: Sorry, the Minister for Health and Children.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: She said all public beds in all public hospitals should be available on an equal basis to all patients. That is her aim. I am surprised it does not appear to be the Sinn Féin aim to back her in her campaign to bring that about.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy's time may never come.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: With regard to the monuments Bill, I assure the Deputy the phrase "Forgotten, but not gone" applies as far as he is concerned.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: On the Broadcasting Bill, it is due for publication in 2007. As the Deputy knows, the other Bill has been passed. The e-consultation process is over. The minerals development Bill is due this year also. The Deputy will be happy to say he will be commemorated in the national monuments Bill, which will also be published this year.

Order of Business (5 Apr 2007)

Michael McDowell: The nursing homes legislation will be published this year. On legal costs, an interim group has been established and we are working on that legislation in the Department. It is hoped to publish that legislation this year. We have published one fines Bill, but it is not possible to give the Deputy a date for the publication of the second.