Results 1,301-1,320 of 18,741 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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.

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

Michael McDowell: I am making the point that it is none of the Cathaoirleach's business to talk about judges and Commissioners from that seat on this occasion.

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

Michael McDowell: Yes, and it is not your function-----

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

Michael McDowell: It is not your function to-----

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

Michael McDowell: It is not your function to speak about judges or Commissioners on this occasion.

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

Michael McDowell: The Cathaoirleach is an impartial chairman and it is not his function to make announcements of that kind.