Results 501-520 of 18,724 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 12d: In page 13, to delete lines 28 to 30.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: The purpose of this amendment is to remove section 13(9), which has the effect of saying the approval of the two Houses of the Oireachtas will not apply to ministerial appointments which have been made under sections 6 and 7 of the Act. The Act, as it stands, effectively states that in future the so-called laypersons will have to be on a longlist approved by the Public Appointments Service...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: That really does not explain anything. It 18 months' time or however long it takes to establish this commission, if this legislation survives an Article 26 reference, we do not know who the Minister will be. We are giving to whomever will be the Minister for Justice at that time, the right to appoint people before the establishment day to be members of the commission. Section 14 states: ...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 13: In page 13, to delete lines 34 and 35.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 16: In page 14, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “(6) A person appointed as a practising barrister or practising solicitor to be a member of the Commission shall hold office for a term of 3 years from the date of his or her appointment.”.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: No.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 19: In page 15, to delete lines 9 to 11 and substitute the following: “(2) A committee shall consist of such and so many members as the Commission shall determine having an equal number of members who are judges and members who are not judges.”.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 22a: In page 23, after line 36, to insert the following: Prohibition on publication of confidential information 35. (1) No person shall publish or cause to be made public whether in or outside of the State any matter, information, record or document which is or contains confidential information for the purposes of section 29 or the publication of which by a person to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: This amendment is designed to cure a loophole in the legislation, namely, that the provisions on non-disclosure of the information relating to the appointments process are inadequate and have the effect of rendering some of the information capable of being published. If one looks at sections 29 and 30, the former restricts the revelation of material by a person who is a member of the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: They might be worried now all right. I am perfectly free to put that file out on television because it is possible other people committed no offence. Maybe they left it on a bus or did something stupid like send it to a shredder and it did not get shredded. Any person in the community is free to divulge that same information and make it public.If we get to the stage that documentation...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I regret that response from the Minister. To compare this to Cabinet confidentiality is nonsensical. Cabinet confidentiality applies to many things and it can be breached by a Minister who just briefs a journalist and the journalist is free to say that the Green Party at Cabinet was opposed to this, the Fianna Fáil members were opposed to that or the Fine Gael members supported...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: To be published means it is in the newspapers.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: No.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: The person who leaks it to another individual, the person who leaves it on the street and the person who puts it in a brown envelope and gives it to a journalist does very little damage. It is the person who publishes it who does all the damage.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 25a: In page 27, line 18, to delete “An applicant” and substitute “A person, including an applicant,”.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: This amendment seeks to extend what is provided for on page 27, line 18 to any person, not merely an applicant. The present text reads that an applicant shall not, in relation to the process of selection and recommendation, including any step and so on, canvas or attempt to influence part of the decision. Again, is it legitimate for the applicant’s wife or husband to do it? Is it...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: It now means, for instance, that a judge who is pally with another judge is free to go to judges who are on the Judicial Appointments Commission and say, “Judge Michael McDowell is really the person we need”, so anybody is entitled to canvass in my favour except me or somebody I procure to do it. Is that really what the Minister wants, namely, that members of the Judiciary can...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: That is the purpose. If that is the purpose, then let us make it very clear that by simply changing two words, any person who does that, including an applicant, commits that offence. That will stop all canvassing of the kind the Minister is trying to stop. Again, there is a mulishness in regard to this Bill. No amendments at all are taken from this side of the House – nothing. If...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I am replying. I think I am entitled to a reply.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (4 Jul 2023)

Michael McDowell: I am entitled to reply to what I heard. The Minister said it is alright for ten judges to go to the Chief Justice and lobby on behalf of one of their colleagues to be appointed. She said it would be spreading the net too wide to stop that. She said it is open to people to write to the commission, who have nothing to do with the judge, urging it to appoint one person rather than another....