Results 1,821-1,840 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Minister's criticism might have some validity in respect of paragraph (a) of the proposed section 53(7). However, I do not see how it has much validity in regard to the proposed paragraph (b), which states:(b) Lay members of the Procedures Committee shall not take part in the preparation of that part of the statement referred to in subsection (1)(a) which concerns—(i) knowledge of...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Minister's analysis of my amendment ignores completely the provisions of section 54, which ensure that the commission itself, which is in the majority composed of lay persons, gets to approve or disapprove any statements which are developed under section 53, to modify them as it considers appropriate, to approve them as so modified, or to refuse to approve them. This means that the lay...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2019)

Michael McDowell: It certainly does not debar anybody. The provision the Minister mentions about debarring laypeople from participating in decisions on appointments themselves is not an issue here. We are dealing with a sub-committee of the commission, which carries out the drafting of proposed statements, which in the last analysis, have to either be rejected, accepted or modified by the entire board. We...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2019)

Michael McDowell: That is certainly not what is at play here. I want to make it clear that my concern in tabling this amendment is to ensure that those parts of the statements drafted by the procedures committee, which are entirely subject to review, amendment, rejection, modification or whatever by the entire commission, on which there is a lay majority, are drafted by people who know what they are talking about.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (2 Jul 2019)

Michael McDowell: Let us be clear about this. The religious zealotry the Bill exhibits in ensuring that, for instance, the chairman of the committee that does the drafting of the technical legal criteria may not be a lawyer is the exclusionary rule. If the Minister wants to look for apartheid in this Bill, it is remarkable that the procedures committee itself, which is a sub-committee of a majority lay body,...

Seanad: Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 8:In page 19, to delete lines 21 to 24. This was part of a suite of amendments and the earlier ones have not been moved. I wanted to draw the Minister's attention to a problem that exists in respect of witnesses being sworn in during proceedings. They are required to justify an affirmation by explaining their religious beliefs. The Law Society, as I understood-----

Seanad: Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I just wanted to draw to the Minister's attention the views of the Law Society that there should be an amendment to the law. That is all.

Seanad: Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I wish to add my words of congratulations to Senator Ó Céidigh on taking the initiative to start the process which led to the Bill passing through the House. When he came to our Independent Group with this proposal, it seemed to me that he faced a number of insurmountable odds, but he has, by his industry and persistence, brought all the parties in the House with him. He brought...

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am sharing time with Senator Boyhan. The summer economic statement is, as Senator Horkan said, challenging in some respects and reassuring in others. As the statement notes, the economy is in a remarkably better condition than it was a number of years ago after the financial crash. There are, however, some fundamental underlying problems, such as the indebtedness per head of the Irish...

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: No, that was Fianna Fáil.

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Leader may have forgotten that that was an election in which I lost my seat, so it was not my policy.

Seanad: Summer Economic Statement 2019: Statements (26 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: One never knows; the cycle goes round and round. I will hand over to Senator Boyhan.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I wish to be associated with the remarks in respect of the tragic death of Councillor Manus Kelly and to extend to his party colleagues, his family and his many friends in Donegal the sympathy of the Independent Group. It was a tragic event. Senator Ardagh referred to a very real issue in respect of catchment areas for schools. It is not just a local issue. I drive past the school in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: We were considering an amendment which was going to make it part of any statement published under the relevant part of the Bill that no applicant for judicial office shall be questioned, interviewed or required in any way so as to disclose his or her political, religious or ideological beliefs or sexual orientation. What I and my colleagues are intent on achieving by this amendment is the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I should examine the points made by Senator Norris carefully and respond to each of them. First, the arguments I have made that the Government can and should have regard to somebody’s ideology or outlook, whether such a person is liberal or conservative, apply to the Government. The whole purpose of what I said about that is that this is a choice for the Government alone. If the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: He has made the argument on a number of occasions that unless this Bill is brought through, the culture of cronyism will continue. I was grateful to Senator Boyhan for making an inquiry of the Courts Service as to how many appointments have been made while the Minister, Deputy Ross, was sitting at the Cabinet table. It appears it amounts to 45 at all levels of the Judiciary from the Supreme...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: The Government has functioned very well in this respect. If the Minister, Deputy Ross, has any views about the candidates proposed at Cabinet, he has had an opportunity within the Cabinet room to express his views and doubtless they have been listened to very carefully.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: I am not being mischievous in the slightest. I am pointing out what the constitutional order is, and I am making the point that the man who claims that this Bill is necessary to end cronyism-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: -----was party to a process which has produced excellent appointments at every level of the Irish Judiciary. There have been 45 such appointments since he took office, and there has been no controversy whatsoever in regard to any of them. Unless the Minister, Deputy Ross, is suggesting that he is personally keeping Fine Gael right on these issues by his influence at the Cabinet table, which...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: Senator Conway should be aware that we are discussing an amendment which would prevent the commission from inquiring into the political, ideological, philosophical or religious views, or the sexual orientation, of candidates. Of course the charge of political cronyism is relevant in that context. Those issues could well inform a Government in its choice of an appointee. Cabinet members...