Results 761-780 of 18,738 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Or forbidden, yes. It is a fairly important point because if there is no secrecy in this it will become known that Judge Lynn Ruane or whoever was rejected by the Cabinet.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Such a thing would happen. Let us not cod ourselves. If people ask others for advice as to which of the three should be appointed or what are the qualities of the three as far as the Government is concerned, such issues would involve who is liberal and who is conservative. If they are free to make those inquiries this will leak like a sieve. There is no point in codding ourselves that...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Consultatively.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I appreciate there is a difference between canvassing and the process whereby the leader of a small party in coalition would receive three names from the Minister for Justice and say "I do not know these three people from Adam and I do not know between them, which of them is the best, because the Bill says there is no order". If I was the leader of a party in the Government I would certainly...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: The bottom line of this section is that there is no prohibition on somebody approaching a member of the commission or the Government to suggest that a particular person should be shortlisted or, if shortlisted, should be appointed. That may be the law we are about to make, namely, that anybody except the applicant can approach anybody on the commission. It would also go the other way around...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I spoke to the Minister during the earlier stages of this debate about section 42(1), which states: (1) The Minister may request the Commission to make recommendations for appointment or for nomination for appointment to judicial office, as the case may be, where— (a) a judicial office stands vacant, or (b) he or she reasonably anticipates that there will be a vacancy in a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not think I am exaggerating when I say it is three months, but it certainly must be two months. You must put up your advertisements, give people a reasonable amount of time to consider whether they want to apply and give them time in which to get any requisite references. Then the list comes back. In the case of the District Court, for example, if there are 40 applicants, the first...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 36: In page 28, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following: “Right of Government to advise President 43. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 42, nothing in this Part affects, limits or inhibits the right of the Government in any case where it advises the President to appoint any member of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, or the High Court to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: It seems that the process of filling the position of Chief Justice will be carried out by the commission, normally where the Chief Justice is in office and will participate as one of the four judicial members of the commission making a decision, but if, for instance, there was a resignation or whatever, the next senior judge of that court would carry out that function. Am I correct in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not know whether the provisions of section 45(2) answer Senator Ward's query.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I think it does, in fact. On a slightly different point, in relation to subsection (4), the Judicial Council appoints a substitute member if one of its elected members is looking for promotion or whatever. Are they free to nominate any member to be a member of the commission? For instance, if the person for whom the substitution is made was originally a barrister, can he or she appoint a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not quite see why it applies in section 45(4). It seems that the board of the Judicial Council is free to appoint anybody who is on the council.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: That is when they are electing somebody. He or she has to be originally a barrister or originally a solicitor, but where the person is merely acting up for one occasion, does that balance have to be maintained?

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not think that is right.

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Other Voices on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Referendums and Lessons from Other Jurisdictions (27 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I welcome our guests and I wish Mr. Thomson bon voyage. It is 24 years since I and Paul Farrell served together on a committee that reformed Irish company law, and it actually succeeded and was a very worthwhile proposition. The points I want to make are as follows. There is a really serious issue as to the clarity of proposition. The Brexit referendum shows clearly that if you ask people...

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Other Voices on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Referendums and Lessons from Other Jurisdictions (27 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Mr. McCord.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I agree with the Minister that subsection (4) is not supposed to be a wish list of attributes for particular agendas.The purpose is to get reasonably rounded people with a good handle on what they are being asked to do, which is to assist in the recommendatory process and to perform that function. As the Minister said, there are important areas of law that have not been mentioned in any of...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 29: In page 13, between lines 35 and 36, to insert the following: “Practitioner members 14.(1) The Law Society of Ireland and the General Council of the Bar of Ireland shall each nominate one practitioner representative for appointment by the Minister as a member of the Commission. (2) A practitioner representative shall be a practising solicitor or a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: It is the first time I have ever asked for that to be done.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: This amendment proposes that we should flesh out in the Bill the concept of diversity. I think it would have very unsatisfactory consequences if it were adopted. To ask the commission to try to work out whether there is adequate diversity in religious opinion, if that is to be a criterion for selection, would inevitably involve asking people for their religious views to see whether this...