Results 7,481-7,500 of 18,728 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: Amendment No. 3 makes more detailed provision for the service of notices by electronic communication and by means of facsimile. It is an alternative to Senator Tuffy's amendment and deals in greater detail with the issues raised in her amendment. I thank her for drawing my attention to this matter by tabling her original amendment and retabling it for this debate.

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: Regarding amendments Nos. 5 and 6, subsection (1) is a standard type of provision for the making of regulations on an ongoing basis. Subsection (2), on the other hand, is an exceptional and time-limited provision designed to deal with any unforeseen difficulties in implementing the Act or other statutes it amends. Any modifications made to such regulations must be in conformity with the...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: This is largely a matter of drafting. I do not see a good reason to include a specific reference to section 26 of the Interpretation Act 2005 in section 8(2). The Interpretation Act, by definition, applies to all Acts of the Oireachtas and all of its provisions, including section 26, will apply to this legislation when enacted.

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: This is a proposal to prevent people from purporting to convey feudal baronies and manorial lordships, a class of incorporeal hereditament under the present law. The group that devised the Bill examined this issue and came to the conclusion that, whatever of their origin in the feudal era, titles of honour had evolved over the centuries into personal rights now rather than interests in the...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: Section 10 contains provisions relating to the concept of an estate in land and section 9(3) makes a reference to that concept as set out in section 10. I cannot see any reason to substitute the word "under" for "in" as proposed in the amendment.

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: I do not believe this is necessary but I will consider the point between now and the debate in the other House. If I change my mind I will deal with the matter in that House, if that satisfies the Senator.

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Senator Tuffy on the matter of a fee simple being unencumbered. I will draw her remarks to the attention of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, because the issue should be considered in a housing or local government Act. I am loath to accept the amendment in the context of this legislation. It is also a policy area where...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: I thank Senator Tuffy for raising the issue on which I am in a position to report progress. Since the matter was last debated in the House, I have had an interesting meeting with Ann Fitzgerald, the chair of the National Consumer Agency, at which we discussed management charges. As the Senator noted, this is a complex area because it relates to apartment blocks. In some cases, it involves...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: Section 11(4) contains a list of legal interests in land that can be created or disposed of but it does not include fee farm rents. Section 12(5) contains a saver for legal fee farm rents existing on the day on which this part of the Act is commenced. The Parliamentary Counsel has advise that the reference in section 12(5) to section 11(4) is technically correct and I do not therefore...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: It has been the case since the 19th century that entails can be barred without compensation. I do not want to dispute the constitutionality or otherwise of a section with a learned academic but one of the aims of the Constitution is that property rights should be exercisable and regulated in accordance with the common good. Entails are not generally synonymous with the common good. They are...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: Following Committee Stage, all provisions in the Bill related to court proceedings were examined in light of the Committee Stage amendment tabled by Senator Cummins. Arising from the examination I have tabled amendments Nos. 15 and 20, which provide that in dealing with applications under section 18(6) and section 29, the court may make such orders as appear to it be just and equitable in...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: I always remember, while studying property law in King's Inns, trying to memorise the distinguishing features between a tenancy in common and a joint tenancy. It occurs to me out of the blue after 35 years that there was an acronym to remind me of the distinguishing characteristics of joint tenancy, PITT. It stood for possession, interest, time and tenure. I knew going into the examination...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: Yes. The intention behind Senator Cummins's amendment No. 16 is to require co-owners to take deliberate steps to create a joint tenancy, if that is their collective wish. Otherwise, a tenancy in common would be the default position. What we are discussing is really a choice of default positions. Senator Cummins will have read the debate on the previous Stage where I indicated I would...

Seanad: Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Bill 2006: Report and Final Stages (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to Senator Tuffy and if the argument is made again in the Dáil, I will summon her in aid on this matter. Senator Walsh suggested we should change the title to clarify the meaning of each term. That is tempting on one level, but there is a volume of existing case law, law books, legal dictionaries etc., all of which deal with joint tenancy. If we came up with different labels,...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Senators for their contributions to this debate. Many thoughtful contributions have been made and it has been a pleasure, rather than a chore, to be here and listen to the views expressed. I will deal with a number of points in this brief reply to Second Stage. I want to thank in particular Senator Ó Murchú for his kind words. When he was not speaking kindly of me he was...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: When we did that we had two choices, we could buy it secretly and sent in people wearing mackintoshes to stand at the back of auctions to pick up a farm without ever telling anybody what we had in mind, or we could do what we did, which was to place advertisements in the newspapers and say we asked people to come forward with lands for a major prison site in the environs of Dublin. We chose...

Seanad: Prisons Bill 2006: Second Stage (Resumed) (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: Including a boot camp.

Order of Business (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: The position on that issue is that a case is still pending before the Supreme Court. I am unaware of any decision by the Supreme Court as regards that matter.

Order of Business (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: It is proposed to take No. 21, Citizens Information Bill 2006 — Second Stage, resumed; and No. 1, Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006 [Seanad] — Second Stage.

Order of Business (23 Nov 2006)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy raised an occupier's right to defend his own home. It is the intention of the Government to deal with that in the forthcoming criminal law miscellaneous provisions Bill. I have indicated to the House my views on that issue and have pointed out that the difficulties that we face arise, as the Law Reform Commission pointed out, from legislation tendered to this House in 1997 which...