Results 61-80 of 18,724 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 1: In page 10, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “(3) The provisions of this Act relating to the Family District Court shall not come into operation unless a resolution approving the making of an order in that behalf under subsection (2) has been previously approved by each House of the Oireachtas.”. I welcome the Minister here...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister's assurance that she sees that a policy of just shunting cases into the District Court is not appropriate, and her indication that she intends to bring amendments on the next Stage of this legislation to that effect and make sure it will not be used as an economic dumping ground for a great volume of court work. I fully take the point that if two people have decided...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: On the construction of a major family law complex in Dublin, I do not know whether one will be sufficient. Half of the population lives in the greater Dublin area. However, even if it is built, my memory of the Criminal Courts of Justice at Parkgate Street is that is was done on a public-private partnership, PPP, basis. Although people in the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I am.

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I support what Senator Ward has said.It seems to me that the jurisprudence of the Irish courts system depends on people being able to work out what is being decided in cases, the reasons that are being given and the policies that are being adopted in case law. If everything is shunted down a peg on the ladder, there will, as Senator Ward says, be fewer and fewer written decisions. On a...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: Arising out of what the Minister has just stated, I point out that if one has a Circuit Court or District Court jurisdiction it is local in principle. Where I come from in Ranelagh in Dublin, there are lanes with very modest cottages on them. One can watch "Cheap Irish Homes" on television and there are some houses within 200 or 300 yards of where I live which, if they were anywhere else in...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: On that point, I do not know how it works out. If there is going to be a property division order or a pension fund division order, is there a monetary limit on what the District Court can do or is it purely land that has these monetary values that we are dealing with?

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Senator Ward. It did occur to me, but it was a Second Stage consideration, and this Bill has been two years on the waiting list to be considered on Committee Stage here. Maybe we would have been wiser to create a family court full stop with geographical divisions rather than having this wedding cake hierarchical system imitating the other jurisdictions. If we had simply just...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I fully agree with the amendment the Minister has proposed. It is absurd that somebody who wanted to complain about how they were treated had to get the permission of somebody who they alleged had mistreated them to make a complaint in the judicial complaints process. I fully agree with that. We should think about this provision and the rule with regard to contempt of court slightly more...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: Thank you. I sometimes felt it was just ignored and that nobody was paying attention to it. It is a serious problem. If we accord secrecy to a process, we are effectively opening up the chequebook of clients and allowing other people to write in the amounts.

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: This section concerns the prohibition on publication or broadcast of certain matters. It is to penalise people who make public family law matters in a manner that could lead members of the public to identify the parties in proceedings. It is a huge protection to people and, if we like, part of the constitutional protection we give to the family. People are at their most vulnerable if they...

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I am just saying it is toothless in its present form because of the three rather than five years provision. We should look at that again on Report Stage.

Seanad: Family Courts Bill 2022: Committee Stage (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: The Long Title of the Bill, which the Cathaoirleach read out so carefully, will have to be amended to include a reference to the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995.

Seanad: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I wish to refer to sections 95 and 96 again and reiterate what I said earlier. As far as I am concerned, this Bill abolishes the right of local authorities to determine what part of their local administrative areas the operation of casinos can take place in. Instead, section 96 comes up with a rather ridiculous proposal that they should be consulted. I have spoken about this issue before,...

Seanad: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I regard the provisions in section 152 as shameful and indefensible. If, instead of subsection (1), there was a general prohibition on inducements, I would take the section seriously. Instead, subsection (1) states that it is lawful to offer inducements, provided that they comply with ministerial regulations. I wonder why it is necessary to state as a matter of law in this land that it is...

Seanad: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: Fine.

Seanad: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I deny that.

Seanad: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: I respect your officials. I think their masters are being bought.

Seanad: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: It is not shameful.

Seanad: Gambling Regulation Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Oct 2024)

Michael McDowell: A certain party refused to allow me to do it. I will name some day in this House the people who influenced your party to prevent any reform.