Results 17,881-17,900 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Security Measures at Farmleigh. (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the opportunity to respond to the Senator on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon. As Senator Terry stated, additional razor wire was installed on the perimeter wall of Farmleigh House as a temporary measure in response to the security arrangements surrounding the EU accession event taking place there on 1 May. The Senator will be...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: This referendum, if passed, will not deprive anybody of citizenship who is an Irish citizen. Therefore, to take the Senator's example of two Albanians who have had a child in Ireland who is now an Irish citizen, as matters stand their presence in Ireland falls to be decided in accordance with the principles laid down in the L and O case. Having an Irish citizen child is not an absolute...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: Senator Terry and Senator Tuffy raised the instance of a family with one child who is an Irish citizen and another who is not. However, that instance occurs as matters stand. There are thousands of families in Ireland where one of the older children is not an Irish citizen while the youngest is a citizen. It does not seem to me to complicate life for those parents. A Nigerian family with one...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: It is amusing that this document, which has been the subject of passionate debate, has never been put in the public domain. This demonstrates an uncharacteristic shyness on the part of the Labour Party.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I must correct my previous statement. I am told that Deputy Quinn read large chunks of the letter into the record on Committee Stage of the Bill in the Dáil. I do not know which chunks he read. Tarraingíodh siar an leasú faoi chead.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: It could happen.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: This issue had already been anticipated by the ingenuity of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel. If one considers the theme of the Government's proposed legislation, it proposes to extend citizenship by statute to a person born on the island of Ireland if the person was born to parents, one of whom was deceased at the time of the person's birth, or if the deceased person was, immediately before...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: That is correct. The minimum guarantee is that the group of people referred to will be guaranteed citizenship. There is the possibility of a mother being kept alive on a machine, for example, though that would be rare. It is much more likely that an Irish father would predecease the child. In those circumstances one would encounter all sorts of complications. I do not want to get into the...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: In so far as this new law permits the Oireachtas to determine the circumstances in which people born north and south of the Border shall obtain Irish citizenship, it would be unconstitutional to avail of this referendum to distinguish between the people of Northern Ireland, as defined in the British-Irish Agreement, and the people of the South with regard to their entitlement. The clear...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: No.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I did not say that about parties.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am grateful to the Senator for the points she has made. I am not in the slightest bit tetchy about this subject. When I went home that evening and saw the reaction to what I said, it suddenly occurred to me that what I actually said could have been reasonably interpreted as applying to the SDLP, but it was not my view at the time. I was thinking about the arguments, which were then being...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: If I had run with that amendment, the aeroplane would never have lifted off the runway.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: The child never had a constitutional right until 1999 in those circumstances. It was a statutory right. The world went on very well without a constitutional right until 1999. The roof will not fall in in similar circumstances now. To be practical about it, anybody who is living in Ireland on a long-term basis is entitled to claim Irish nationality. If that person was entitled to live in...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will give the Senator an example. A Unionist in Northern Ireland is a non-national who was born in Ireland.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: There is a very simple answer to that question. If Senator Hayes's proposition were incorrect, that would not be a cause for worry, as it is open to the Oireachtas to legislate on the matter.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: Senator Terry's amendment suggests that we should actually again tear open the terms of Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, consider what they involve and insert new wordings in them. I fully accept that this would be one way to approach this issue. All of the rhetoric I have heard for a long period runs to the effect that we should not touch these articles and that they should be left...

Seanad: Family Law: Motion. (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the motion put before the House by Senators Henry, Quinn, Norris, O'Toole and Ross. I hope the Leader will not accuse me of treachery, but it does not matter to me whether the motion as proposed or the motion as amended is passed because we are all in agreement on this issue.

Seanad: Family Law: Motion. (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Independent Senators' motion seeks a report of progress to date and future plans aimed at securing the full compatibility of Irish family law with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, with particular reference to the convention rights of non-marital and one-parent families. I am grateful to them for raising this issue and I propose to give the Government's response to it,...

Seanad: Family Law: Motion. (5 May 2004)

Michael McDowell: Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights deals with the right to respect for private and family life and provides that everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence and that there shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a...