Results 1,281-1,300 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Second Stage (14 Oct 2020)

Michael McDowell: I am concerned about the fact that section 6 appears in this Bill without any explanation whatsoever. No Members of this House, other than perhaps the Government Members, were consulted about section 6. I do not believe that. The Minister has not advanced the reasons this extension of time became necessary. I will leave it at that, but I do not think it is satisfactory that a justice...

Seanad: Ireland-China Relations: Motion (8 Oct 2020)

Michael McDowell: I second the motion put forward by Senator Mullen. I agree with everything he said. Earlier this year, I was privileged to be invited by the Government of Taipei to witness the elections in that country, which were conducted in January. I visited Taipei for the first time then, even though I have always supported the people of Taiwan in their desire to be free and to be free from communist...

Seanad: HSE Winter Plan: Statements (7 Oct 2020)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate her on her appointment. At the outset, I should say that the winter plan is being presented to the House on a day when the Government is also asking An Garda Síochána to create havoc on the roads for many people, which is a very bad idea. It verges on the unlawful and all we must do is think for a moment what it would be like to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Engagement with the Minister for Justice (6 Oct 2020)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. In relation to the European arrest warrant, if we go back to the 1957 Council of Europe Convention, will the political offence exception be revived in any way and the terrorism exclusion have to be extended? If the Minister is not in a position to answer this now I fully understand. Second, as to the Dublin regulation, there is a real problem that we may face a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Engagement with the Minister for Justice (6 Oct 2020)

Michael McDowell: No problem.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Engagement with the Minister for Justice (6 Oct 2020)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2020: Engagement with the Minister for Justice (6 Oct 2020)

Michael McDowell: To be optimistic, perhaps the House of Lords will save the day.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I echo Senator Buttimer's comments welcoming the provision of extra funds for a comprehensive winter strategy. However, I have been writing and speaking for some time on one issue, which is that we should have clear indications of what was done between March and now to increase hospital capacity and particularly intensive care unit, ICU, capacity. I agree with Senator Buttimer that this is,...

Seanad: Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I support the amendment and wish to make a few general points. I support what has been said about the pace with which the Bill has been brought through. The problems, the arrears and the backlog must have been developing for far longer than the past few months, and it is an awful pity that this problem was not addressed earlier. I am also conscious of the fact that the crisis that has...

Seanad: Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: It should be remembered that the target of the then Minister involved the planting of 69,000 trees every day.

Seanad: Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: If weekends are taken out of that, it is 90,000 trees per day, every day. The present programme for Government has set not quite as ambitious a target: the trees can be planted over 20 years rather than ten years, and the metrics are slightly more relaxed. However, and this is the fundamental point and the reason I support the Bill, this country, if it is to engage in major afforestation,...

Seanad: Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: The reason I support this amendment is that I believe the public has to understand the target and the process, and understand that not everybody can live surrounded by a bare landscape if we are to plant 400 million trees over the next 20 years. The Wicklow Mountains will change. The land in Roscommon and Leitrim will change.Views we used to have will no longer be there. We must get...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Light Rail Projects (24 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I echo what the Cathaoirleach said. I welcome the Minister of State. I very much welcome the fact that a Member of this House is a Minister of State. I congratulate the Senator on her appointment. It is a major innovation. The last time this was tried was with the late Senator James Dooge. That was a long time ago. The Constitution provides for someone such as Senator Hackett to be a...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Light Rail Projects (24 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I note there were some additions in pencil in the document that was given to me. One of them is particularly revealing because it suggests that the Minister is considering doing a turn-back facility at St. Stephen's Green. That suggests there is a proposal to have a loop at St. Stephen's Green for the MetroLink project. That is interesting. However, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, told...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Light Rail Projects (24 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I was not seeking to embarrass the Minister of State at all.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Light Rail Projects (24 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister of State for her frank confession.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (18 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I sympathise completely with the remarks made by other Senators regarding what we are being told in the media about what the Government intends to do on the basis of the advice from NPHET. I have no confidence in NPHET for the very simple reason that the difference in treatment of meat plants and restaurants between it and the HSE is dramatic and inexplicable. I have no confidence in the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: First I want to observe that having stated that the business of this sitting of the Seanad was solely concerned with the Government's Bill, the Cathaoirleach himself then breached it by making remarks about Clifden.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: I do not agree with some of what was said and I do not believe it is the function of the Chair to make remarks of that kind. I do not believe it is the function of the Ceann Comhairle to make far more trenchant remarks in his Chamber.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (10 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: Excuse me, a Chathaoirligh. If we are here to discuss one item only, which is the Bill and the Order of Business relating to it today, then the Cathaoirleach himself led off by breaching that. Just remember that. It is not the Cathaoirleach's function to talk from that seat about Commissioners or judges. It is not that at all.