Results 17,641-17,660 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: It will be updated periodically. I am not in a position at the moment to say how often it will be updated. The PIAB Act, which I do not have with me at the moment, covers that. It is not something which is frozen in time; it is a document which will issue from time to time. Sometimes when one produces a guideline everybody regards that as the floor rather than the ceiling. We have to be...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: This is a new innovation, but it is not unprecedented internationally, whereby the Minister can prescribe actuarial tables by regulations for the purpose of their being referred to by the courts when assessing damages in respect of future financial loss. If one loses an income stream for the rest of one's life, at the moment in Ireland if it is a serious case an actuary comes to court and...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: This section provides that the Courts Service shall set up and maintain a register of personal injuries actions. The register shall contain the names, addresses and occupations of the parties to personal injuries actions. It does not require personal details beyond that to be available. In the old system before pleadings were no longer lodged, it was possible to look at cause books, and still...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: There will be a central register. It may be divided by courts but it will be maintained by the Courts Service for all courts.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: The register, as opposed to a published document, will be published mainly on the Internet.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I do not think anybody would buy this document.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: If it is a register, there is an obligation to put into it the name and address of every person who took a personal injuries action. It is an ongoing register similar to the cause book in the local court office.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: It would be possible to enter some time period after the words "shall enter", in subsection (2). I do not want to be overly prescriptive but it is clear it has to be established and maintained and that is a rolling process. I agree with Senator Walsh that one does not want a rolling process that never seems to roll. Perhaps something of that kind could be done. There will be a search facility...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful for it.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: This amendment seeks to include the Child Abduction and Enforcement of Custody Orders Act 1991 among the list of relevant enactments in section 31(1) of the Bill. The term "relevant enactment" means those provisions for the hearing of family law matters otherwise than in public. Section 1(2) of the 1991 Act provides that the Courts (Supplemental Provisions) Acts 1961 to 1988 and that Act, in...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Senator is entirely correct. The current section 31 is cast more widely than I had intended when I sent the Bill for drafting. Rather than delay the matter at the time, when there was pressure to proceed with the legislation, I intended to revisit it at a later stage because it is somewhat vague and could lead to concern among some people that members of the public would sit in the back...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I wish to give Senator O'Meara and others a sense of where I am coming from in respect of this matter. Subsection (2) states that nothing contained in a relevant enactment shall operate to prohibit the preparation and publication of a report of proceedings to which the relevant enactment relates. If that meant a law report of proceedings, it would be one thing. However, if it meant a...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I would refer to such people as "researchers" rather than "students".

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is obvious that is it a good idea to allow some type of friend to accompany those involved in family law cases to hearings. People involved in organisations such as those mentioned by Senator Terry may fulfil such a role. One might want one's first cousin to attend as a supporter. We will have to deal with this matter flexibly. As Senator O'Meara said, if we make provisions by category,...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will consider the amendment in the context of what is necessary.

Seanad: Business of Seanad. (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am anxious for the Bill to be enacted soon. If Committee Stage is resumed on another date, I ask the Leader to arrange for it to be taken soon.

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: Amendment No.1 is consequent upon amendment No. 36 and remedies what might be regarded as a deficiency in the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act as passed by the Oireachtas at the end of last year. Section 54(1)(c) of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act provides that one of the principal functions of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board shall be to cause a cost benefit analysis...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: It may save time if I reply at this point that I accept these are meritorious amendments and I thank the Senator for tabling them. I am in consultation with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel as to the exact terms to be used to achieve that effect. I intend to incorporate the Senator's amendments in a Report Stage amendment or else to accept her amendments. I just want to make sure that...

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to Senator Terry for tabling an amendment on this matter. I have done a good deal of private soul searching on the issue since the Second Stage debate, which was constructive and fair-minded. As a member of the legal profession I must be careful not to be swayed by arguments which are ad hominem or come from a specific point of view to the exclusion of the public interest....

Seanad: Civil Liability and Courts Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (3 Jun 2004)

Michael McDowell: One might go to the High Court to get around the problems created by the proposal. It is relevant to point out that this Bill was published in discharge of the Government's decision to accept the MIAB report, which set out a substantial menu of proposed reforms. One of the proposed reforms involved the reduction of the limitation period and another related to the introduction of the letter of...