Results 41-60 of 18,815 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: No, I am glad the Leas-Chathaoirleach did that. We will reach the amendment at a later stage, but I ask the Minister to think about this point. The Minister is proposing that the courts will be able to say to people that yes, they have been defamed and they have no other way of finding out who defamed them other than to bring an application to court, but they must now pay Elon Musk and...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: I do not want to call a vote at 2.30 p.m. because we will be here until 2.45 p.m. In the two minutes remaining, I want to make the point to the Minister that if Senator Fitzpatrick received a letter from somebody saying she had defamed them in something she said in this House, her solicitor could write back and say that was an occasion of absolute privilege. If the person then commenced a...

Seanad: Supports and Services for Patients with Head and Neck Cancers: Motion (8 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: I second the motion.

Seanad: Supports and Services for Patients with Head and Neck Cancers: Motion (8 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: I have great pleasure in seconding Senator Craughwell's motion. He has spoken very eloquently and movingly about the personal aspects of this particular issue, which is raised in the notice of motion. I just want to say a few things. I am very grateful to him that he used the time of the Independent group of Senators to put this issue before the House. In large measure, it is something...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 3: In page 6, line 28, after “jury” to insert the following: “, unless it is ordered by the High Court that, having regard to the nature of the claim on which the particular action is based, both the public interest and the interests of justice would be better served by its trial with a jury.”. This amendment is similar to amendment...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister for his reply insofar as it goes. However, he has avoided the fundamental proposition that I asked him to give a clearer explanation for, namely why it is that if somebody alleges that he or she was beaten up by a garda, he or she is entitled to a jury trial, but if a journalist says that he or she was beaten up by a garda, no such entitlement exists? In the course of...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: I listened very carefully to the Minister's reply. When I asked why do this, he said it is because we can do it. That is a remarkable proposition. I asked the question as to why should we do it and he said because we can. It is a very strange argument in favour of changing the law. Of course we can change the law. We can do many things, subject to the views of the Members of the House....

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Oct 2025)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 4: In page 7, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: “6. Nothing in this Part prohibits the trial in the High Court with a jury of a claim in defamation in conjunction with any related claim arising substantially out of the same alleged facts and circumstances which would otherwise be triable by the High Court with a jury.”. This proposed...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2025)

Michael McDowell: I want to be associated with the kind remarks the Cathaoirleach and others have made about Julie Lyons on the occasion of her impending retirement, which we are marking. She is a wonderful woman and very kind to all of us. I definitely agree with what was said by Senator Boyle, that hospitality is slightly different to catering and that she managed to crown one with the other. At the end...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. Is it the case that people who are granted refugee status are free to travel backwards and forwards to their countries of origin without control? There is control at an airport, but are they free to enter and re-enter their countries of origin and come back to Ireland or is a check kept on that? Second, the Minister mentioned that 2,846 deportation orders were...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Michael McDowell: It has not been published.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Michael McDowell: Is there any reason for that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Michael McDowell: It does seem a bit ridiculous that people would come from a country - I will not mention a particular country - fly backwards and forwards to do business and all the rest of it and be made refugees.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration: International Protection Accommodation Service: Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration (23 Sep 2025)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I want to raise on the Order of Business today the need for a full debate in this House on facts and circumstances, some of which have only partly emerged in the media, concerning grave issues relating to the armoury section of An Garda Síochána, which have been dealt with by An Garda Síochána and the Department of justice. There has been limited media coverage of the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I would prefer them to be discussed separately.

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I support the substance of Senator Ryan's amendment for a number of reasons and I echo all the arguments she made without exception. First, the newspapers of Ireland have convinced themselves that their problem with defamation law lies with juries. They have convinced themselves of that narrative and nothing will dislodge them from that conviction. They have convinced themselves that...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I echo what Senator Stephenson has said about ignoring other voices in society. If the Irish Council for Civil Liberties thinks jury trials should not be abolished, if the Law Reform Commission thinks they should not be abolished and if the justice committee of this House and Dáil Éireann thinks they should not be abolished, who actually is demanding that they should be abolished?...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Senator Stephenson's remarks. The funny thing is that if a person brought a case in the Circuit Court for defamation, the judge could disbelieve them. The judge in the Circuit Court may or may not give a long judgment one way or the other on the matter. The judge can come to a view, one way or another, without a jury. However, if a person does not think they got a fair...