Results 961-980 of 18,741 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: No, it is not agreed. I just want to simply say that I will not put it to a vote, but I am not agreeing it for the reasons that I mentioned earlier. I just wanted to put reform on the agenda. Arising out of what the Leader just said, I also want to say that truth is the first casualty in war. For Putin to say that President Zelenskiy is a Nazi, when President Zelenskiy is a Jew, is a...

Seanad: Citizens' Assemblies: Motion (23 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I second the amendment.

Seanad: Citizens' Assemblies: Motion (23 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: Generally speaking, I am supportive of citizens' assemblies if they are to perform a function that would otherwise not be performed. On the local government structures for Dublin, for instance, it is a failure of imagination and determination at a political level rather than some issue on which the great majority of Dubliners, however congregated, are to come up with some magnificent formula...

Seanad: Citizens' Assemblies: Motion (23 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: And the planning regulators.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: There are a number of issues that we should discuss in this House in the immediate future, one of which is the home retrofitting plan. There are a number of aspects of that plan that need to be teased out. It is all very well to announce that €X billion is available for this plan and that X number of houses are due to be retrofitted, but I am concerned to ensure that the resources...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: Especially when it is in receipt of State funding.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I thank the representative organisations and Fórsa for their contributions today, which I found very helpful. I want to raise a few points. The general point was made that the structure envisaged by this Bill is a little clumsy in terms of who is accountable to whom and precisely where the authority lies. As somebody who devised the previous Garda Síochána Bill, which is...

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I move: That Seanad Éireann notes the publication of the judgement of the Uyghur Tribunal on 9th December, 2021 and accepts its findings.

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: On 9 December last, the Uyghur Tribunal, which was a voluntary tribunal established of experts in London which made it its business to amass evidence from around the world, particularly from members of the Turkic indigenous population of Xinjiang province, most of whom are called Uyghurs, published a report which was damning of the People's Republic of China and its policy of cultural and...

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I want to draw the House's attention to pages 33 and 34 of the report which I circulated. It shows that between 2015 and 2019, the fertility rate and reproduction of Uyghur people has plummeted. On page 34 of the report in particular, there is a graph showing the decline in fertility rates of the Uyghurs. Their reproduction is mainly clustered between an increase of 0% and a -60% increase...

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: It is not good enough any more to say these things are terrible or we support this motion or that motion at the United Nations but we avoid coming down on one side or the other as to whether the substance of this report is true or untrue.That is why the motion that was put in my name, and those of my colleagues, reads: "That Seanad Éireann notes the publication of the judgement of the...

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: There is no such convention. This is a manufactured piece of nonsense.

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I have been a Minister and I have been Tánaiste. I understand the constitutional position of the Government. The Government exercises the executive power of the Irish Republic, but that has nothing to do with whether this House can say that it accepts the verdict of an informal or a formal tribunal. The line purveyed by the Minister of State is based on a completely flawed...

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I am quoting the Minister of State's script which shows - and this is the big thing-----

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: Excuse me. Do not interrupt me. You had plenty of time to deliver your-----

Seanad: Uyghur Tribunal: Motion (9 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I ask the Minister of State to stop interrupting. The simple fact is that he came in here with a script which was circulated in advance. The script was prepared by people in Iveagh House. It is a shameful script. To his credit, the Minister of State departed from it because it is so shameful. That is what has happened here. In the context of China, Iveagh House has been pathetic. I was...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Senators Currie and Gavan about the report on collusion. It is welcome to see an acknowledgement of the truth of that collusion coming forward. There is more to come on that front. I also believe there is no hierarchy among the dead or the victims, on either side of what was a dirty war in Northern Ireland. The grief and suffering of the families of one side is more or less...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Jan 2022)

Michael McDowell: I endorse what Senator Chambers said about women's menstrual health. I want to raise another issue on which she may agree with me. The state of the Defence Forces in Ireland has been run down deliberately and systematically by Government after Government to the point where they are no longer fit for purpose. The Reserve Defence Forces, formerly Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Jan 2022)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear. It is demoralising-----

Seanad: Garda Síochána (Functions and Operational Areas) Bill 2021: Second Stage (27 Jan 2022)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. I fully support this legislation. The need for An Garda Síochána to modernise its structures is beyond contradiction. I recall that when I occupied the current Minister's office I introduced the Garda Síochána Act 2005 as part of the reorganisation of An Garda Síochána. However, we knew at that time it was very definitely only the...