Results 461-480 of 18,724 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Michael McDowell: Or use an e-scooter.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Michael McDowell: On a point of order, are we to assume that notwithstanding that the Government decided it was going to kick this down the road, it is not going to be proposed anymore? I understood the Order Paper was going to bring in the Leader of the House to propose an amendment. Is that not happening now? I would like somebody to tell us. I would have voted against her amendment because I think the...

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Michael McDowell: Was it seconded?

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Michael McDowell: Fair enough. It is defeated, then. I am delighted it is defeated.

Seanad: Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2021: Second Stage (7 Nov 2023)

Michael McDowell: It is a Government amendment?

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: I apologise for being late as I was at a meeting of the justice committee. I ask the Minister to clarify a couple of points. When we hear the Garda appealing for dashcam footage from ordinary road users, is there any problem with the use of such material evidentially? I sometimes wonder whether I can go around my neighbourhood willy-nilly with my dashcam on or if there is any control on my...

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: Is that dealt with in the Bill?

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (24 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: Is there an admissibility argument in respect of dashcam footage harvested from members of the public? Is there a GDPR issue with producing that kind of material in court or is it used purely for the purposes of background investigation?

Seanad: Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements (19 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Tánaiste here today. In respect of what he has said, not one word could I disagree with. I endorse everything he has said 100%. What has been said by other speakers is equally true. Hamas is an extremist Islamist terrorist organisation. It is not the Palestinian people. It is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. It is dedicated to the reversal of the 1948...

Seanad: Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements (19 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: I will finish on this. I see the Tánaiste shaking his head. I remember when this House passed the-----

Seanad: Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Statements (19 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: -----settlements Bill, we were foot-tripped in the Dáil and we were foot-tripped here. We were told it was against European law. That was untrue then and it was shameful.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: One needs a school bus in the bad weather.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: I have one point to make regarding the conversations that have been happening in the wings of this House and in respect of the business before us. The previous Seanad passed the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018, which was measured legislation that was designed to fly a flag against the creeping annexation of the West Bank by settlers encouraged by the Netanyahu...

Seanad: Situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Motion (18 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: I just want to say a few words about the implications what is about to happen in Gaza, by all appearances. It appears the Israeli Defense Forces are about to invade Gaza. They have laid down a sort of zone for clearance by at least half of the people of Gaza, which has 2.2 million people, and they want them to move south. What happens when they move into that area? Will the Israeli...

Seanad: Screening of Third Country Transactions Bill 2022: Second Stage (18 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: Cuirim fáilte roimh an t-Aire. In regard to this Bill, I can see there is a kind of hole in our economic security apparatus if I may put it that way, that this Bill is necessary to address. The principle of the Bill that we are debating today is something with which I have no major difficulty. It seems to me, bearing in mind what Senator Crowe and the Minister of State have said, that...

Seanad: Final Report of the Independent Scoping Exercise into the Circumstances Surrounding the Death of Mr. Shane O'Farrell: Statements (17 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: At the outset, I wish to indicate that at one point I was involved on behalf of Lucia O'Farrell in legal proceedings. I am no longer involved in those proceedings. I declare that before anybody makes some point about it. The O'Farrell family knows that nothing that can be done now can bring Shane back. They also know that nothing can be done to reverse the outcome of the trial of Mr....

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: In relation to what is happening in Gaza I want to make some remarks. What happened last Saturday must be classified as utterly unforgivable, utterly wrong and completely inexcusable. To invade across an internationally recognised boundary, round up people and slaughter them and bring some of them back across the boundary for the purpose of making them hostages is a crime against humanity,...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Legal Aid (3 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State. It is a sad day that outside every criminal court in Ireland, the barristers' profession is standing in protest against the unjust actions of our Government, which has been blind to a serious unfairness visited on them. From 2008 to 2011, there was a reduction in barristers' fees, in light of the economic crisis of the time, of between 28% and 69%. In real...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Legal Aid (3 Oct 2023)

Michael McDowell: Briefly in reply, I welcome the Minister of State's remarks. Indeed, I welcomed the view taken by the Minister for Justice at the event I referred to earlier but it is not good enough that a Department of State, which is part of a collective Government, should leave us in a position whereby the Director of Public Prosecutions conducted a review, recommended the ending of these cutbacks but...

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by An Taoiseach (28 Sep 2023)

Michael McDowell: Five years and eight months ago, the Taoiseach delivered an address to this House nine months after his appointment as Taoiseach on St. Brigid's Day, Lá Fhéile Bríde. He told us he wanted to share his thoughts on the reform of Irish politics. He told us that while he had originally supported the abolition of the Seanad, the people had spoken and the matter would not be...