Results 541-560 of 18,474 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I will raise two points. First, the suggestion, as Senator Ward pointed out, that the Judicial Council members will somehow represent the diversity of the professions is just not statable as a proposition because the two nominees will be one male and one female nominee, one of whom, at the time of his or her appointment as a judge, will have come from the solicitor’s profession while...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: Senator Ward has tabled an amendment to do that. It is amusing because the Bill, as it stands at present, means there will be a deadlock. The four lay people will obviously listen carefully to the judges as a group. They will not come in say, “We are the lay people, and we have this candidate” and the Judiciary will not say, “Well this is our person”. I believe...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: The Minister has said that it is usual for people to interview for positions. Take the position of a lecturer or professor in a university. It is extremely unusual to say that the only groups of people who cannot be there at the interview board are lecturers or professors. That is what we are doing here. As Senator Ward said, if someone is to be appointed to a medical position, it is...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I am pressing the amendment.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 3: In page 10, line 27, to delete “9 members” and substitute “11 members”.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I find myself in the same position as Senator Ward. I find myself put down as a co-sponsor of an amendment that has been proposed for a very different reason by Senator Higgins. I am very happy to co-operate with her in any sensible way but I want to put on the record that my signature to this amendment, and those of my fellow Independent Senators, is for the precise opposite reason to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill 2022: Discussion (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I thank all our witnesses. As somebody who had experience of Ministerial responsibility for the Prison Service, I am convinced of several things. I am convinced that this legislation is necessary and that the prison visiting committees need to be strengthened and reformed. I am also convinced that the chief inspector should be somebody who has been made independent by statute. I do not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill 2022: Discussion (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Ms Brady on one point and that is that short prison sentences should rarely, if ever, happen. The blight, especially on younger people, of being sentenced to prison, particularly when prisons are drug infested, violent and have no proper system of rehabilitation, and we must bear in mind the figure that we heard for the number of people in prison on remand. I agree with Ms...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill 2022: Discussion (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: --

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill 2022: Discussion (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: The prison needs to be replaced. Playing fields, running tracks and things like that need to be provided for people who are genuinely in need of rehabilitation as well as proper facilities. Rehabilitation is not going to happen in Mounjoy Prison so we must cop on and accept that the institution must be replaced. We must bear in mind that we have a growing population, which has moved...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill 2022: Discussion (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I have not been to see it yet.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Inspection of Places of Detention Bill 2022: Discussion (18 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I agree.

Seanad: Report of Commission of Investigation (IBRC) into Siteserv Transaction: Statements (12 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State to the House. The report of the Cregan commission of investigation into the sale of Siteserv Limited to a company beneficially owned in the majority by Mr. Denis O'Brien is a matter of public interest. Siteserv was indebted to the State-owned IBRC to the amount of €156 million arising from its debts to Anglo Irish Bank. Accordingly, the terms on which...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Second Stage (5 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister and her officials to the House today. I welcome that this legislation is being put before the House. It is a huge improvement on the Bill which was debated at great length in this House before. I should acknowledge that fact. There are a number of issues, though, that I do want to raise. One has been raised by Senator Ward, namely, that in effect, section 52 now...

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister to the House. I wish to make a few observations. The Government's response document and high-level action plan to the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces commits the Government, over the years 2022 to 2028, to increase the expenditure on defence to €1.5 billion. Currently, it is €1.107 billion.We are, in effect, dealing with a commitment to...

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I heard what the Minister said; I listened in my room and looked at these figures. I looked today at the budget Estimates for next year and noticed that the increase is in fact in the order of approximately 6%. That would be fine, if we were not in a situation where inflation is now running at between 6% and 8%. I want to impress upon the Minister that it is all very well to come to the...

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: What is wrong with Bullock Harbour?

Seanad: Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces: Statements (4 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I am glad to hear that.

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Young Voices on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Discussion (30 Sep 2022)

Michael McDowell: I thank everybody for what has been very interesting up to this point. I hope I do not change it. A number of things struck me. Mr. Millar took an agnostic attitude to constitutional change. He has different priorities. Ms Clyde concentrated on the bread and butter of apprenticeships. At the same time, we are having a discussion here about identity and constitutional change. There are a...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Young Voices on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Discussion (30 Sep 2022)

Michael McDowell: The elephant in the room that has not been discussed yet as far as I can see is denominational education. I am taking the point from all the Foróige people and everything else that youth work is hugely important because it allows people to break out of the channels into which denominational education puts them. However, it is both North and South, by the way. This is not a Northern...