Results 1,701-1,720 of 18,726 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: If blasphemy was worthy of removal from the Constitution on the grounds of vagueness, indecency was certainly not something which could be criminalised on the same basis. I completely agree with Senator Bacik on that point. I agree with the remarks of the Minister of State regarding the conflation of religion and other political agendas. There is an entity named the National Party which...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----not meant as encouragement to anyone but, as the Minister of State raised the issue, I wished to underline the fact that some people are ideologically blind to the distinction between asylum seeking and economic migration and they are entitled to that view. It is a legitimate view. They view the nation state and everything else as opposed to the great international order to which they...

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: I wish to make clear that I do not believe the Defamation Act should have included the blasphemy provisions. When I was Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, I acted according to that view.

Seanad: Blasphemy (Abolition of Offences and Related Matters) Bill 2019: Committee Stage (25 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: I do not regret the absence of these sections from the Defamation Act. If we are in the business of having a civil and tolerant society, there cannot be absolute licence to outrage others for the purpose of outraging them. Senator Norris may be correct that the way to deal with such matters would be through breach of the peace powers. It may be that an elaboration of the law with regard to...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: First, I endorse warmly the remarks the Cathaoirleach made of congratulation of those involved in the restoration of Leinster House, not least this Chamber itself, and I express my admiration for the work they did. I had the privilege of being shown through it when it was at a very raw stage of rehabilitation and the extraordinary skills that were shown in restoring the House and the extent...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: There has been recent press and media comment to the effect that as a result of the financial crisis in RTÉ, which I understand to be a real crisis, a number of proposals are in contemplation, one of which is the possible ending of Lyric FM.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: Donkey's years ago, when the pirate stations were functioning, I remember meeting a very senior executive of RTÉ who claimed that if pirate stations were legalised and if there was any competition with RTÉ on what were then called pop music stations, it would be the end of democracy in Ireland. As a result, we got 2FM. If there are to be economies in Montrose as to what goes out,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: I do not want to get into a discussion of earnings of individual broadcasters, but anybody who listens to the radio a good deal, as I have done for a long time, and who listens to the advertisement slots on RTÉ must be struck by the fact that nearly all of the advertisements are now either self-advertisements or advertisements for semi-State bodies and that the great majority of...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: As I understand it, the proposal is that each Member will have 12 minutes, including the Minister. The Minister should have ten minutes to respond. I thank the Leader for acceding to this amendment. I have said at the Committee on Procedure and Privileges that if one goes back to Senator W.B Yeats’s speech about how we are no petty people, under our speaking rules, he would have got...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: The agreement is that the Order of Business should be amended to provide that on No. 4, each Member’s contribution shall not exceed 12 minutes, including the Minister’s, but that the Minister shall have ten minutes to reply at the end.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: I wish to politely welcome the Minister of State and note that he indicated that he is in listening mode, which is simply not good enough at this stage. Listening has gone on for a long time. The time for action and implementation has arrived, as has the time for ending the pretence that Fine Gael has any interest in reforming the Seanad. There is no appetite in Fine Gael for reforming the...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----and that can be fairly conclusively proven. We must remember that at a time when Deputy Enda Kenny was leader of the Opposition and fending off an internal dispute within Fine Gael, he was inspired to come up with the gimmick of announcing - at a president's dinner, national conference or whatever - an intention to abolish the Seanad.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: It was a shameful gimmick and the Irish people eventually saw through it. Senator Paddy Burke will have his opportunity. The abolition of the Seanad, as proposed by Deputy Enda Kenny, would have left the Constitution in tatters. The checks and balances provided for in the Constitution would have ceased to exist. There are many such checks and balances. I will not recite them all, but I...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Government bows down in acceptance of the Bill against the muted hostility of its Members in this House, as explained to the media. I do not expect the Minister, Deputy Zappone, to resign in protest at the way the Government has shabbily treated this issue, but I object to the way the Minister, Deputy Ross, has come in here since, having established a group. The Minister, Deputy Ross,...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: I will finish on this point. Members of this House have nothing to fear from the passage of the Bill, which is appended to this legislation. I recommended to the Taoiseach in my covering letter of the report that the Bill should be initiated in Dáil Éireann not here, because turkeys do not vote for an early Christmas, but Members of this House do not have anything to fear because...

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: Fine Gael has let itself down.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am concluding. Fine Gael has let itself down very badly. The people will not be fooled. If the next Dáil is the place where this must be dealt with, so be it. I hope there are people in that Chamber who will do-----

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----to this Government what it richly deserves to have done to it; kick it out, because it is a shamefully dishonest Government, which has conned the Irish people long enough.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: He is the bogeyman who will lose Fine Gael seats right across Ireland.

Seanad: Seanad Reform Implementation Group: Statements (24 Sep 2019)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.