Results 1,401-1,420 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I will not push the matter any further.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I want to underline what we are doing here. This ministerial amendment is largely to the same effect, though slightly grammatical inferior, to the amendment in my name and Senator Craughwell's. It uses the term "Government give" as if Government is a plural, when in fact the Government is a single institution, and it should be "gives". Nonetheless, we will not be petty about that. The...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Why were we kept here for so long in making these points and challenging the very foundations of this legislation? The answer is that one man's vanity had to be appeased. He is the man who said he would end cronyism in the appointment of judges. The Minister must now accept, with the two provisions that I have drawn attention to, that the Bill does not have the effect that the Minister,...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: That is what the Constitution requires. The Minister, Deputy Ross's, insistence that this quango be established and his foot-stamping refusal to appoint judges until it was established and his blackmailing-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Sorry, I will not use the word "blackmailing". His coercion of the Government to force the Minister to come in here for a year and a half to defend the indefensible is now exposed for what it is. This is a monumental U-turn. This is an acknowledgement of futility and redundancy. It means that any future Government can appoint whom it wishes without any regard to the judicial appointments...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I referred to the "political fraudulence" - which is a legitimate term to use - of suggesting there was cronyism in the appointments made by the Cabinet without this legislation and that the Minister, Deputy Ross, was going to end political involvement in the appointment of judges. The Government, which is referred to in amendment No. 24, is composed of elected politicians acting as a single...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Would the Senator agree that the good ship Ross has sunk before its launch?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: It did not seem that long when it was happening.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Minister for Tourism, Transport and Sport also said that.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: It most certainly was.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: It was bypassed in respect of the man who is now the Chief Justice.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: What about the former Attorney General whom the Government appointed to the Court of Appeal?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: JAAB had nothing to do with that appointment.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: It had nothing to do with JAAB.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: Will the Minister, when he brings the Bill back to the Dáil, change the word "have" to "has" to make it correct?
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 26: In page 10, to delete line 18.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 27: In page 10, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “Independence of the Judicial Function 10. (1) The Public Appointments Service and the Commission and their respective members— (a) shall, in performing their functions under and in connection with this Act, uphold judicial independence, (b) shall not, in connection with the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: I do.
- Seanad: Finance Bill (Certified Money Bill) 2019: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: The Report Stage recommendations have been ruled out of order and therefore this Chamber is about to end its consideration of the finance Bill. Bearing in mind the political season we are in and the-----
- Seanad: Finance Bill (Certified Money Bill) 2019: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----calendar season, it occurs to me there are a few things that ought to be said. First, we should remember what is not in this legislation because this is probably the last finance Bill this Government will introduce. There are some things that I deeply regret are not in this legislation. I have spoken about them before in this House and I am not making party political points but the...