Results 17,961-17,980 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Senator does not too badly herself.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Attorney General would not allow me to do that.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I would not have wanted to do it. If he advised me that it was unconstitutional, I would never deliberately tender a Bill that I believed to be unconstitutional to any House of the Oireachtas.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: That refers to other persons in accordance with law, not people born in Ireland.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: They are entitled.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will answer the Senator in my reply. There is a very simple answer.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Allow me to finish, please. No serious lawyer contends that any Irish court would say to any person, of whatever nationality before it, that his or her fundamental rights did not apply because he did not see the person's Irish citizenship certificate and ask to be shown the person's passport. That has never been our law and, in fairness, our courts have never gone down that road. We have...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Some people have stated that the proposal is racist.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Bill has been described as racist. When law, it will apply to everybody across the board, whether Americans, Norwegians, Aryans, non-Aryans, Semites, non-Semites and people of all skin colours and religions. It is not racist and it is unfair to describe it as such. The Government is not playing the race card for short-term electoral advantage. I believe passionately that my duty as...

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The only people entitled to come to Ireland from South Africa, irrespective of colour, are those who can claim they are entitled to Irish nationality by descent. That is the same basis for people from the Americas and right across the world. It is wrong to identify them by their skin colour. Paul McGrath's grandchildren will be entitled to jus sanguinis just as much as anyone else.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I want to return to the subject matter of Senator Quinn's Private Members' Bill. It is my intention in the implementing Bill, which I have not yet published, to address the substance of his proposal. There is an undoubted link between citizenship policy and immigration policy. Our immigration policies have brought many thousands of non-EU nationals to Ireland and they are very welcome here....

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am listening carefully.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I wonder if the Senator is telling the truth.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I said that myself.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: However, I said it.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Senator should have come and listened to what I said.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I said that too.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: If the Senator had stayed to listen to me rather than going down to the Library, he would have heard me making all these points at great length just a few minutes ago.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am glad the Senator keeps a note of everything I say.

Seanad: Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (30 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I said that in my speech.