Results 17,181-17,200 of 18,734 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Following consultation with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in respect of amendments Nos. 9 to 11, inclusive, we believe they would not improve the text from the director's viewpoint.

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: There are good grounds that reasons for not prosecuting cases are not given. For example, the Garda could believe that an individual, making an allegation of, say, assault, rape or robbery, is being untruthful. The Garda could argue that, in the past, the individual had a reputation for fantasising. A reporter could then ask the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions why a case was not...

Seanad: Garda Síochána Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I appreciate the intention behind the amendment but I cannot accept it. The Parliamentary Counsel advises that while a collective citation and construction section could be included in the Bill, the recommendation was that it should not be because it could give rise to conflicts in interpretation between definitions in this Bill and those under previous Acts. This Bill effectively supersedes...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Unlike some states, Ireland does not have a general power as part of some kind of quasi-punitive process to strip a native-born Irish person of his or her citizenship. There are places in the world where a person can not only be imprisoned and so on, but also stripped of citizenship as a punishment. We do not allow for that. There is an exception to the general rule in the case of...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: They are not applying for anything. If they came back and lived in Ranelagh, they could vote in the next general election. I cannot telephone the registrar or the man in charge of the voter register in Dublin City Council and say those people should not be on the register because they should not have been Irish citizens in the first place. I am not in a position to say they should be denied a...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I agree with that proposition.

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Of the five grounds, one does not apply to Irish associations citizenship. The second ground is that the certificate is procured by fraud, misrepresentation, whether innocent or fraudulent, or the concealment of material facts or circumstances. I will not speculate as to whether there was fraud in this case. The question arises — again, it is an argument to be made and perhaps I should not...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I ask the Senator to be careful in this matter and not to fall into the error, which somebody did in the Lower House, of confusing a certificate of naturalisation with a certificate of nationality. A certificate of nationality is a document which provides evidence that a person is an Irish citizen. Section 28 of the 1956 Act states that any person who claims to be an Irish citizen, other than...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Even if they already had a passport, yes. For instance, supposing an American arrived here tomorrow and somehow got himself or herself a birth certificate on the model of——

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Day of the Jackal, exactly. If such a person presents himself at an office and gets an Irish passport by pretending to be an Irish citizen, he is not an Irish citizen and I have no doubt that the Department of Foreign Affairs would revoke his passport as soon as it discovered that the trick had been perpetrated. However, revoking the passport would not decide whether the person was or was...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is not a power of revocation. If someone went to Iveagh House and said they were the parent of a child who was born in Ireland, and said they had been in Ireland for four years at the time that child was born, and by doing so procured a passport for that child, the person would not be conferring citizenship on the child. On the day it was born the child either was or was not an Irish...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I intend to commence the Act as soon as I have put in place the regulations, which we are now working on, concerning the formalities of proving residence in Northern Ireland. Once the President has signed the Bill and I have the regulatory machinery in place, I will commence the Act, sooner rather than later. I commend the Senator for his wisdom and circumspection in withdrawing this...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The legitimate expectation of people procreating in a certain period of time was a novel proposition.

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Senator is correct in that there are certain categories of British subjects who are not invested with the right to be in the United Kingdom. One of the categories provides that a person is entitled to reside in the United Kingdom without any restriction on his or her period of residence, if he or she has what is known as the right of abode there or has a passport endorsement to the effect...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not believe so. I believe it is possible to be a subject of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and not to be entitled to reside in the United Kingdom, but it is not possible to be a British citizen and not to reside in the United Kingdom.

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: To take the second point first, "resident" for the purpose of section 6A refers to actual residence in Ireland, and the Bill states: "has been resident in the island of Ireland for a period of not less than 3 years or periods the aggregate of which is not less than 3 years", during the period of four years immediately preceding the person's birth. One must be actually resident here. If the...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: What I am trying to do with this provision is to mirror citizenship and nationality law. At present, the general rule is that if one is five years' resident in Ireland lawfully, one may apply for citizenship and naturalisation. Discounted from that is time spent in the asylum process prior to recognition and also time spent as students. The reason is that we want our asylum seekers to come...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will make arrangements for the asylum service to send a letter to the Senator setting out the position in terms of numbers. I do not want to make an exaggerated claim, but there has been a fairly dramatic change in the length of time it is taking, particularly in respect of accelerated country of origin cases. Senator Norris is proposing that when one is declared a refugee and given the...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: After three years one can apply without payment of any fee to become an Irish citizen whereas if one is a migrant worker one must pay an accompanying fee with the application for citizenship. In one sense the State treats the first person more favourably as to time and money.

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: No. We do not normally revisit the issue of whether the civil war one fled continues. That is not the normal course. If one is here and is granted asylum status one could stay here, unless there was some ordre publique reason to exclude one from the country. We do not say it is time to return to Afghanistan or wherever because the situation there has cleared up.