Results 17,401-17,420 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: We are changing as a society.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am glad the Senator has offered me the amendment in that spirit, but I reject it in the same spirit. The term "amendment" includes changes by substitution or insertion.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: If I was to agree on this occasion to include a reference to "substituted or inserted" as an embellishment to the term "amended", I would have to do it on every occasion, on principle, and legislation would become longer rather than shorter.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: I agree.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: I assure the House that I will submit the scheme to the joint committee. If this or the other House wants to examine it in advance, I will not oppose such a debate, depending on the House's time constraints. I do not want to make it too complicated, however. I do not want to provide for two bites of the cherry because that would mean I would be here for the rest of my life.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: I enjoy being here.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: One person hinted at it.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: In fairness to Senator Feighan, it could be argued that he foresaw this problem. However, he certainly did not point it out in a way that impinged on my mind or made red lights flash to indicate to me that there was a problem.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: I agree with those Senators who said they would prefer not to be here today. I would prefer if a different view had been taken of this matter. The Director of Public Prosecutions is independent of me. I cannot and do not criticise him for taking his own view of the law. Where two views are open in respect of a statute, however, it is a matter of legal construction — a rule of the criminal...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: Down in the disco.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is happening all over. Off-licence sales are making inroads as are supermarkets.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: In response to the Leader's last point I intend to introduce the codification Bill in Seanad Éireann as soon as it is drafted, which is important. There were and are different views about the 9 o'clock threshold. In case people get carried away with how right they were in the past, which we all have a tendency to do, when I moved the time from 8 o'clock to 9 o'clock, some Senators, including...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am a liberal by disposition and people should control their behaviour better. Had I said that I would have been screamed out of public existence for taking a blasé attitude to serious situations. There is a balance to be achieved in this. In saying that evidence of age was required for young drinkers we went as far as we could down the road to control under-age drinking. In the Dáil, for...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: Well I know he had a problem with the ban on smoking in public places. People have a great capacity to claim they were right all along but what they were saying all along was quite different. I welcome the general support for the Bill. The question of whether the 10 p.m. rule should apply for all or part of the year can be considered again in the context of the overall consolidating...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Committee and Remaining Stages. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: If it is any consolation to the Senator, similar amendments were ruled out of order in the Dáil.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: Yes. There are several things it could cover. Tommy Cooper used to tell a joke about walking down the street and running into a bar and saying "ugh" because it was an iron bar. There are many definitions of the term "bar" but we will stick to the more colloquial ones. In this context we will deal with the two meanings which most people would accept, namely, the object against which one leans...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: It would be a vision of hell for the Senator.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: True.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: And the Oireachtas.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004: Second Stage. (13 Oct 2004)

Michael McDowell: I thank the House for agreeing to deal with this short Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2004 as an urgent matter. It is fair to say it deals with an issue of concern to all sides of the political spectrum. I trust that this consensus will contribute towards speedy enactment of the proposals. The primary purpose of this short Bill is to amend the Intoxicating Liquor Act 1988 in order to provide a...