Results 1,161-1,180 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (1 Mar 2021)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1: To delete subsections (1) and (2) and substitute the following: “(1) The Children Act 2001 is amended by the substitution of the following for section 252: “Anonymity of child in court proceedings 252.(1) Subject to this section, in relation to any proceedings for an offence against a child or where a child is a witness in any...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (1 Mar 2021)

Michael McDowell: A Leas-Chathaoirligh-----

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (1 Mar 2021)

Michael McDowell: The Minister said she has been advised that her amendments would be better in some sense but she has not stated why. I cannot understand how it could possibly be that one amendment that is legible is less satisfactory than one that is almost illegible, as to its meaning at any rate. I would expect the Minister to say whether she sees any difference in the terms of our amendment and the...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (1 Mar 2021)

Michael McDowell: The Minister has just said that it is best practice to amend the Act in the way she has suggested. I disagree fundamentally with that. It is not best practice to do that. It is inferior and worse practice, in my respectful view. The Minister said correctly that section 26 of the Interpretation Act would be engaged by taking the steps of accepting the amendment in our names, but it is...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (1 Mar 2021)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Senator Higgins. I walked away from the amendment I originally proposed in order to get a coherent text on the basis that the Minister wanted her amendments to go through. The amendment I originally proposed tried to bring elements of flexibility into the determination and not to put a judge into a straitjacket or put everything into a binary yes-no, that this is the law, that...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (1 Mar 2021)

Michael McDowell: In view of what the Minister has said, I do not want to divide the House on the amendment in my name because I know what would actually happen. It is an inevitable consequence at this hour of the evening - I am not naive. However, I want to say strongly that some of the points made by Senator Higgins and me need to be considered. I am sensitive in this regard. I am not saying that this is...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Committee Stage (1 Mar 2021)

Michael McDowell: It is worthwhile pointing out that subsection (2) in the Minister's amendment No. 1 provides that the amendments affected by subsection (1) "shall, on and from the date on which this section comes into operation, apply to the publication or inclusion in a broadcast of a report or picture to which section 252(1) of the Children Act 2001 applies, irrespective of whether the proceedings referred...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (26 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: Over the last number of weeks, the Houses have discussed the report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters at length. Pressure on time and speaking slots has made it impossible for me to contribute. However, I want to take a few minutes today to put my views on the matter on the record. Unfortunately, the report of the commission was...

Seanad: Covid-19 (Transport): Statements (26 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. Looking around me, we are surrounded by members of the Green Party, including the Acting Chairperson, Senator Garvey. It is a happy situation that the Acting Chairperson is here. I want to express my agreement with Senator Pauline O'Reilly that we have to rethink many issues, but the rethinking is not all one way. It is not all rethinking on the part of people who...

Seanad: Covid-19 (Transport): Statements (26 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I know Roosky particularly well.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: It was my intention to draw the attention of the House to the motion in my name and the names of other Senators, including Senators from all groups and parties in this House, namely, No. 8 on the Order Paper concerning the fate of Mr. Richard O'Halloran who is being detained in China. Last week, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, called me about this motion and requested that,...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State's amendments. Since we are dealing with amendments Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, I want to thank the Minister of State for listening to the debate and the contributions of the Members of this House, and responding in this manner to the proposal which I made. I fully accept what the Minister of State said that it is not possible to effectively amend the requirements...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I did not want to mention Sinn Féin and-----

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill 2020: Report and Final Stages (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I echo what Senator Ward has said.

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time". The Children (Amendment) Bill 2020 has emerged in certain circumstances which may be somewhat surprising to many. The Court of Appeal's civil division delivered a judgment on 29 October last. The presiding judges were the President of the court, Mr. Justice Birmingham, Ms Justice Kennedy and Ms Justice Ní Raifeartaigh. The case was...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I do not wish to add very much to what the Minister has said. I thank her for her contribution and appreciate that she went to the Cabinet and got leave to support this legislation on terms, so to speak, that the Cabinet understood. However, I ask the Minister not to write that in stone either because there are issues to be teased out.I will give the Minister an example. If there were a...

Seanad: Children (Amendment) Bill 2020: Second Stage (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: Next Monday week.

Seanad: Remote Working Strategy: Motion (15 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I will not oppose this motion. I admire greatly the commitment of Senator Currie to the whole concept of remote working. To me, it is something that will obviously be part of our future to a greater extent than was ever envisaged. As Senator Currie stated, the process has been dynamised by the Covid-19 lockdowns as people are beginning to see it is possible to work remotely and to shift...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Northern Ireland Protocol (Article 16): Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (9 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I will ask one supplementary question. I was not saying that whoever made the decision was unaware of the political consequences. It was that it was, legally, completely wrong. The annex and Article 16 are not applicable, as the Minister of State's own statement says, to the moving of vaccines through Ireland into the UK. It simply was an abuse of the protocol and in flagrant breach of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: Northern Ireland Protocol (Article 16): Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (9 Feb 2021)

Michael McDowell: I have a couple of questions about the statement by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, that she takes full responsibility for what happened. The problem is that it is saying there is a veil to be drawn over this, in that she takes full responsibility and nobody should pierce the veil or ask for further transparency. Is the Irish Government going to insist on...