Results 12,441-12,460 of 18,729 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am fascinated by people who are willing to stand up in this House and pretend that no wrongdoing took place in Colombia and that these men were bird watchers, tourists or people studying the peace process.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: We should face up to reality.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Stagg should stop shouting. If we ever had a Minister for Justice——

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: If we ever had a Minister for Justice who was willing to believe these men visited Colombia for bird watching, studying the peace process or as tourists, we would be in a sorry state.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I am proud to say to this House that every single step I have taken in this matter has been to ensure that the Irish people know——

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: If the Opposition does not want to listen to me, I will sit down.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Deputy Ó Caoláin should allow me to answer the question instead of shouting me down.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: In order to brief Mr. Chuck Feeney on the real threat to Irish democracy posed by allowing the Centre for Public Inquiry to be manned by a person who had engaged in that process, I got a briefing from the Garda Síochána and I had the document in question given to me in that context.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: With regard to Deputy Ó Caoláin's wild fantasies——

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: This case was unique in that a body charged with upholding ethical values in the Irish political system under its own constitution chose as its chief executive a person who had been publicly described as far back as 2002 as having visited Colombia under a false name in a visit prior to that of the Colombia three. Mr. Justice Flood is on record today as saying that he only knew Mr. Connolly...

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I have already told Deputy Cuffe that, in order to brief Mr. Feeney, I asked the Garda Síochána to give me a copy of the particular form, which it did.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: I have already given the answer to Deputy Cuffe. I do not accept Deputy Ó Caoláin's argument about the level playing field. I believe that north of the Border the Deputy's party is engaged in falsification of its electoral expenditure. It is fanciful to suggest that in the last elections his party spent less than the Alliance Party in a massive campaign in Northern Ireland, as it has claimed.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: The provisional movement is in possession of tens of millions of euro.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: It continued to accumulate tens of millions of euro right up to the time of the Northern Bank robbery. If it was not being used for military purposes, I must come to the conclusion that it was being used for the purpose of fighting elections.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Every normal person in Ireland believes that to be the case.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: That is fantasy.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: Having briefed Mr. Feeney on the issue, I had hoped he would see that it was inappropriate to have such a person in a position of such importance and that the CPI would replace Mr. Connolly.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: There was great resistance to such a proposition.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: When I heard Mr. Connolly on the radio repeatedly saying that these allegations lacked substance, I decided that I would accede to the request of Independent Newspapers to give it a copy of the application form so that the truth of this matter would be established.

Chief Executive of Centre for Public Inquiry: Statement by Minister. (13 Dec 2005)

Michael McDowell: It is not the case that I thought that FARC money was going to go to the CPI. The CPI was very adequately funded, as the Deputy knows. It is my view that the provisional movement, after its second ceasefire, sent that team to Colombia to bring money back to Ireland in exchange——