Results 101-120 of 5,913 for at speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Disregard of Certain Criminal Records of Gay Men: Motion (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: Like Senator O'Reilly, I was involved in a lengthy meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Oversight and, therefore, missed the earlier part of the debate, much to my regret. I note what Senator Norris said and wish him well. I join other Members in saluting everything he has done in the past to end the injustice against gay men of more than a century, going back to the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I am interested in the answer the Minister of State has given to this amendment. During the past week I had the honour to be invited to the Law Society of Ireland to speak at a seminar organised by its students’ legal publication, theHibernian Law Journal. This was to commemorate 20 years of solicitors being appointed to the higher courts. In the course of that very interesting...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: In order for the House to understand the impetus behind these three amendments, it is necessary to look at section 13 in its entirety. Section 13(1) states: The Minister shall from time to time as required, request the Public Appointments Service to undertake a selection process for the purpose of identifying and recommending to the Minister persons whom it is satisfied are suitable for...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I hope they have had a good visit to Leinster House. It was emphasised previously in this debate that the Public Appointments Service will be some kind of independent body which will contribute to the independence of the commission. As we can see, all of this is simply a process for weeding out the people who are unsuitable. That is all the Bill actually does. In section 13(1) and (2), it...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: No, for the very reason I will outline. The huge pretence in this legislation, which I believe is politically dishonest, is that we are going to have politically neutral appointments made in the future. What we are doing here is vesting in the Minister the right to produce four people, chosen by him or her, to be on the commission to mark the judicial members, so to speak. Let me address...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the students from St. Fintan's school as well. I hope they have an enjoyable day. There are several matters I want to deal with regarding the Order of Business. I wish to remind the Leader, before I start, that I have in recent times obtained generalised agreement to the proposition that the Garda Reserve would be the subject of a ministerial discussion and debate in this House...

Seanad: Courts Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State to the House, and I echo the sentiments expressed by Senator Ward. I have a number of things to say to the Minister of State. There is a scandal going on now in the central office of the High Court. One cannot go in there and get a summons issued unless one makes an appointment in advance. The system used to be that one went to a counter, and presented the...

Seanad: Courts Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I am talking about the legal aid system and I am very much sticking to this Bill. Senator Ward has told the House this. Have his words been ignored? Does this House realise that our legal aid system is creaking so much that somebody sent forward for jury trial today is given a date in 2025? That is a scandal. It is a complete scandal. Think of a rape victim, or a little old lady whose...

Seanad: Electoral Reform (Amendment) and Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023: Second Stage (10 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. He is always welcome here. He came to the Chamber on a previous occasion to explain the Government's activity on this matter. We were entertained by promises and commitments at that time from both himself and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. We were told that, in very short order, a consultation group would be set up among the...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Seanad Reform (4 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State. It is a long time since the people of Ireland voted on this issue in 1979, in the dim and distant past. That is the first point. The second is that it is five weeks since the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the matter. It is also the case that the Supreme Court has said it will extend the stay on its decision until the end of July in order that...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (27 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: I refer to remarks that were made yesterday at the annual meeting of prison officers. The figures for the prison system at this time are shocking. There are 157 people sleeping on mattresses on floors. There are cells with four bunks. The capacity of the women's prison is approximately one third of what is necessary. It is suggested in The Irish Timestoday that the Minister, Deputy...

Seanad: Sectoral Employment Order (Construction Sector) 2023: Motion (27 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: When this matter was originally being considered for approval in this House, it was to be discussed without debate. I apologise because I was partly responsible for asking for the matter to be debated. The reason was that I believe there are wider issues at stake. I agree completely with Senator Ahearn in that the rates in question are not surprising and probably below the market level in...

Seanad: Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage (27 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: First of all, I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This Bill is a catch-all measure. I have no objection to that. There are little things that have to be done right across the Department of Justice's portfolio of responsibilities and instead of having a separate Bill for each of them, a catch-all Bill of this kind is a useful vehicle to get them moving. On the Order of Business...

Seanad: Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage (27 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: We have, as Senator Wilson said, a growing population. It has increased to 5.1 million from 3.9 million, as it was then. We have very serious crimes being committed. I am the first to say of any District Court judge who thinks it is remotely just to say to some young fellow who resists arrest or spits at a garda that he should go to prison that it is a stupid decision and that he or she is...

Seanad: Courts and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2022: Second Stage (27 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: -----to ensure that it was not done. There is a right of appeal to the Circuit Court but there are people who fall through those cracks and end up in Mountjoy Prison. Their lives are ruined forever. The time has come for the Department of Justice to face up to the issue. It has between 20 and 30 acres of city-centre prime development land at Mountjoy. To start knocking bits of Mountjoy...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2023: Second Stage (25 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State. Obviously this legislation is primarily to confirm, in statutory form, what has been agreed by Dáil Éireann in financial resolutions and, therefore, there is very little we can do or say about it, except to say that these measures are generally intended to mitigate and alleviate some of the particular hardships being endured by business, consumers...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: EU-UK Relations and the Windsor Framework: Engagement with European Commission Vice President (25 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: I apologise to Commissioner Šefovi for being late arriving at the meeting. I was on my feet speaking in a House of Parliament here on the Finance Bill. My point is simple and it should not cause Commissioner Šefovi any trouble. I simply want to put on the record my gratitude to him for the incredible degree of pragmatism, determination and diplomacy he has shown in bringing...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: Through the Chair, I ask the Deputy Leader to consider setting aside some time in the House to discuss Covid, the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, the Government's response and whether there are already lessons to be learned. I understand that an inquiry into all of these matters is in progress. Normally, I would say that we should await the outcome of the inquiry but, having...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (19 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: I raise the possibility of having a debate in this House with the Minister for Justice on the subject of the Garda Reserve. There is, on paper, a strategy for the revitalisation of the reserve over five years from 2021 to 2025. We are already in 2023 and no recruitment has taken place in recent years to the reserve. The result is that the membership of the reserve has fallen from around...

Seanad: Civil Liability (Schools) Bill 2023: Second Stage (19 Apr 2023)

Michael McDowell: I want to express my complete agreement with the sentiments expressed by Senator Mullen on all fronts. It seems to me that we are here dealing with a problem which, based on some of the case law that has been mentioned, one might think the problem does not exist to the extent that it does. Senator Mullen has put his finger on one very important point and that is the iceberg principle,...