Results 17,201-17,220 of 18,734 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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

Michael McDowell: Yes, there are Bosnians who were given repatriation grants to go back to Bosnia and as part of that package they said they were led to believe if it did not work out in Bosnia they could come back, and they have returned.

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

Michael McDowell: Many have been naturalised but they are here effectively as refugees.

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

Michael McDowell: If somebody came from Bosnia as a refugee and was granted refugee status and applied under this three year rubric for Irish citizenship and nationality, the first response from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is not to say that the situation in Bosnia has cleared up. Those people as a matter of practice get citizenship and we have not resorted to saying that as the...

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

Michael McDowell: The law on citizenship is as follows: the Irish State can, when the Executive advises the President, confer citizenship as a token of honour on somebody who has done signal service to the Irish nation, under section 12 of the 1956 Act. That is full citizenship, not honorary in the sense of being an honorary member of a golf club or whatever, but conferred as a matter of honour on the person....

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

Michael McDowell: I opposed the same amendment in the other House. I record my long-held opposition to the principle which informed the passports for investment scheme and my serious misgivings as to its legal propriety, even if the highest standards of procedural nicety were observed in every case. With the exception of my immediate predecessor, every Minister to hold my office since 1989 gave a wide latitude...

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

Michael McDowell: There are some misunderstandings here. First, it is not the case that there are no criteria on which the decisions in question are made. For instance, section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999 and section 4(10) of the Immigration Act 2004 deal at great length with the criteria that must be taken into account in applications of this kind. Even when it comes to a decision on humanitarian leave...

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

Michael McDowell: I was not talking about Senator McDowell. I was talking about others.

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

Michael McDowell: It may be that——

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

Michael McDowell: One would not know about that. I was about to make the point that Senator Cummins's proposal would allow the non-national parents of children born in Ireland before 24 January 2003 to be deemed to be, at all times, lawfully present in the State. That means that the taxi driver in Bucharest, if he made some girl in Bucharest pregnant, would be deemed to be, at all times, lawfully present in...

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

Michael McDowell: I know Senator Cummins did not really mean that. He has tabled the amendment for the purpose of provoking a debate and will not stand over the exact wording of it. It casts too broad a net. The effect of amendment No. 2 would be to allow anybody anywhere who before 2003 fathered a child born in Ireland to be deemed at all times to be lawfully present in Ireland and be able to come here and go...

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

Michael McDowell: The Senator would be surprised. I intend to adhere to the rubric that the Government as a whole will look at the issue before I enunciate a policy that will have significant ramifications. Senator Norris raised the issue of €100 million in resources. The asylum seeking phenomenon, 90% of which is not legally sustainable, cost the State €350 million across a number of Departments two years...

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

Michael McDowell: ——but this is still a significant sum of money. There are problems in the developing world but addressing them in Ireland may not be the fairest way to deal with them. When we consider what is happening in the Congo or in Sudan and what the developed world should be doing, applying huge resources to a phenomenon 90% of which is not legally sustainable when examined in detail is not the...

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

Michael McDowell: If someone came to Ireland and said he thought he would be stoned under Sharia law and gave his address as northern Nigeria to give credence to that and it turns out that he is the father of two Irish children who are now at the local national school, of course we must be reasonable and say that might not have been true but at we must find out who he is and he must engage with the process,...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Second Stage. (1 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: They were boxed in and discriminated against. We should look forward to the kind of society which is emerging. Let us not have ghettos and under-classes which are culturally or ethnically distinct but, instead, let us try to create a new society. We are beginning this process from a simple position. Let us not make the mistakes other societies have made in the wake of immigration. Some...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Second Stage. (1 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: One only has to look at what happened to the candidacy of Justin Barrett in the Leinster constituency to see that there is no rich seam of votes to be obtained by exploiting race or fears about immigration. That is an encouraging feature.

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Second Stage. (1 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Regarding what will happen now, I have indicated that we will take a common sense, decent and pragmatic approach to the numbers of people in this country who in effect arrived before the Supreme Court decision when the law was different — as perhaps were expectations — to what it will now be. It is not reasonable to think that everyone was reading the Irish reports in foreign places. We...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Second Stage. (1 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I must first halt the process we have been facing until recently. That is why, when this legislation is passed, one of the first steps I will take is to bring a memorandum to Government to show how we will quickly deal with all the problems left in the aftermath of this controversy and the legal development.

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Second Stage. (1 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Just in case people get the contrary impression, no Minister takes any pleasure in destroying someone's dreams, irrespective of whether people exploited the asylum system or behaved in the most proper manner. They are human beings and are entitled to have their dreams as well as the ambitions for their families and children which one would expect. I am reminded of the Swiss architect and...

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Second Stage. (1 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: I can deal with her in the Irish associations Bill.

Seanad: Irish Nationality and Citizenship Bill 2004: Second Stage. (1 Dec 2004)

Michael McDowell: Yes.