Results 18,141-18,160 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy posed a great number of questions.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I am told that is not possible.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Pregnant women have rights.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Tairgim: "Go léifear an Bille an Dara hUair anois." I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The purpose of the Bill——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The purpose of the Bill——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: On a point of order——

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Deputies opposite seem to be labouring under an illusion.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The vote that will be taken on Tuesday next will be on the basis of the question, "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." That is what will be decided at the end of this debate.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Deputies are being disorderly.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The Deputy should stop heckling. He was giving out about that subject a moment ago. He is behaving like a baby.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: In order that there be no misunderstanding, the vote on the Order for Second Stage was taken on 8 April. The motion I am now moving is, "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." That will be voted on at the end of the debate.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: The purpose of this Bill is to make an amendment to the Constitution. The amendment is very simple and proposes to restore to the Oireachtas the power to legislate as to the circumstances in which citizenship will be conferred on a child born on the island of Ireland to parents, neither of whom is an Irish citizen and neither of whom is entitled to become an Irish citizen. The Oireachtas had...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: That report was sent for consideration to an all-party Oireachtas constitutional committee, then chaired by Deputy Jim O'Keeffe and of which I was a member. Let me congratulate Deputy Jim O'Keeffe on his appointment as Fine Gael spokesman on justice, a position he last held in 1979. That all-party committee set itself a work agenda and studied that report. No member of that committee at that...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Before I come to the detail of the proposal before the House, I would like to reflect a little on the nature of citizenship and nationality.

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Article 9 of the Constitution, as much a political as a legal document, declares that fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State are fundamental political duties of all citizens. It is important on occasion to remind Members who talk about citizenship that loyalty to this State, which has only one Army, is a fundamental political duty of all citizens

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: This encapsulates to my mind the essence of the intertwined concepts of citizenship and nationality. To be a citizen of the State is to be as Article 2 states "part of the Irish nation"; to be part of the community which forms that nation; to share the benefits and the vicissitudes that membership of that society brings with it; and to accord respect to the entity that has bestowed...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: Citizenship is the means whereby we become members of a moral, cultural, political, social, economic and legal community based on rights and duties established in law. Citizenship, then, is not just an entitlement to a passport with a particular symbol on its cover, although possession of a passport is undoubtedly an important attribute of entitlement to a particular citizenship. It is a...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: As the Minister who categorically ended granting of citizenship to investors under the "passports for sale" scheme, I am entitled to state that any abuse of citizenship, by which it is conferred on persons with no tangible link to the nation or the State whether of parentage, upbringing or of long-term residence in the State, flies in the face of Article 9.2 and devalues the concept of...

Twenty-seventh Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2004: Second Stage. (21 Apr 2004)

Michael McDowell: I will repeat myself because Deputy Higgins seems to be a slow learner. No other country has this combination of jus soli and the right to travel in other states.