Results 1,521-1,540 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: They do not fit the definition.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I take it Senator Norris is referring to legal academics.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: He will have been speaking for a similar length fairly soon.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am quite happy with that generous approach to the matter.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am a liberal on this matter.
- Seanad: Provision of Accommodation and Ancillary Services to Applicants for International Protection: Statements (27 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I wish to pay tribute to the Minister for Justice and Equality for the speech he delivered here this evening which was very balanced, reasonable and constructive. It should be given some publicity. This House does not get much publicity in terms of press coverage. One can get publicity by saying the wrong thing but frequently one cannot get publicity by saying the right thing. The balance...
- Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am sorry Senator Conway-Walsh has left.
- Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: She is back.
- Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I am glad she is back as we were discussing the mutual recrimination that goes on between parties. It is all go now in examining political interference by one set of politicians in the affairs of another country. I was being told today that Northern Ireland is now the most neutral country in the world because its politicians will not even interfere in their own affairs.
- Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Second Stage (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I was going to make two or three points. Senator Bacik referred to the availability of accommodation and the fact that this budget is doing little for housing. We have seen much investment in student accommodation and hotels but very little investment in residential accommodation by comparison. That is certain the case in Dublin city and I hope that changes. The student accommodation and...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I second the amendment.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I support Senator Norris's amendment. This body, which is intended to be established for the long term, is going to be one where the chief qualifying attribute for the chair is that he or she, when appointed eventually-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----has no qualifications or experience of how the legal profession or the legal system works of a hands-on type. It can be argued that the Bill envisages that, among the laypeople, people with knowledge of how the courts impact society will be included and that includes perhaps people from the insurance area, people concerned with family law and the like. We are still stuck with the...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: One person opposed the proposition and that was Minister, Deputy Ross. He proposed that it was entirely wrong that the chairperson should be decided for the group and that it should be decided by the group. Indeed, he attended the first meeting.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: He attended the first meeting with a view to ensure that I was not made chairman of the group. Happily, that did not happen and his interest waned in the group's activities thereafter. When I say "waned", I am being very charitable; It disappeared.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I return to the principle of the matter. The commission should be allowed select its own chairperson or that somebody ex officioshould be chairperson. Those are possibilities. Senator Norris's amendment simply is designed, as I see it-----
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: -----to say that the disqualification of a person from being a chairperson, on the grounds that he or she is either a lawyer or a member of the Judiciary or whatever, should be removed from the Bill. There may be some case to be made for having the chairperson not be a judge. That case could be made because the Bill in other provisions envisages the chairperson being called before...
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: It was not discussed.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: On a point of order, I never even mentioned my own amendment. I assumed when Senator Norris said he objected that the matter would be debated separately.
- Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)
Michael McDowell: I never spoke about my own amendment. I merely spoke about Senator Norris's amendment.