Results 18,561-18,580 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: A separate room with a pool table in a licensed premises is not covered.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: It was 2.30 a.m. After 11.30p.m. there is a special exemption.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: It is.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage. (18 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: At least he is still vertical.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (18 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: Time is limited but this has been a good debate which I have enjoyed. There was great honesty and candour in the contributions. There was even occasional drama, especially when Senator Norris reminded us of the off the shoulder number in diamanté worn by one of his assailants and telling us in lurid detail about what she was doing with one of her hands while her partner assaulted him.

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (18 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: Wait until the media get their hands on that colourful story. This Bill is a balanced approach but I agree with Senator Ryan that the proof of the pudding, as it were, will be in the enforcement. One can have all the laws one likes but if they are not enforced, they are window dressing. If a law is to be enforceable, it must be one that works. Gardaí were confronted with a situation where...

Seanad: Intoxicating Liquor Bill 2003: Second Stage (Resumed). (18 Jun 2003)

Michael McDowell: We really did not have €50 or €60, or its equivalent, to spend on occasions like this. Senator Maurice Hayes made some points in relation to the different parts of premises. I ask Members to bear in mind that prohibition applies to kids in the bar of a premises. Anybody who wants to serve meals in their premises or to readjust a room so that parents can have pints, spirits or whatever...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have already looked at the proposal. However, we are not simply talking about catering premises in the ordinary colloquial understanding of the term. This phrase includes licensed premises, discos and the like. If one looks at the definition of "catering premises", we are not just talking about fast food outlets or the like, we are talking about all night time activity. For this section to...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: The last one was serious, this is reasonable.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: Noise would include music. The proprietor of the premises is not exempt from this and if he or she throws open the windows on a summer evening to ventilate the premises and the result is the music being heard in neighbouring houses in a way that seriously affects the amenity of those houses, particularly in the early hours of the morning, it would be capable of being dealt with on that basis....

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: I fully appreciate that not all pubs need a security man. Far be it from me to suggest they do. The great majority of public houses function perfectly well, managed effectively from behind the counter. Neither do most public houses need any form of CCTV. The truth is that most public houses do not pose any public order problems for anybody. In my own area of Ranelagh, some pubs are quiet...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: A reasonable view has to be taken of any provision and it has to be given a constitutional interpretation. A closure order is defined in section 5 as one which orders the closure of a catering premises at a specified time or between specified times on a specified day or days during a specified period. Let us try to work out what that means. During a specified period and at particular times...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: Yes, but one is dealing with the commonsense of the district court Judiciary and the Circuit Court on appeal. If an owner was to say he would be bankrupt if he had to close on Fridays and that he would have to issue redundancy notices, it might be that in the fullness of time he would have to contemplate the whole solvency of his business or whatever. This is not designed to deal with cases...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: That is all this is about.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: It can only be at a specified time or between specified times on a specified day or days during a specified period.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: I doubt that it would have that effect. One can appeal it if it is unfair. One can sell the premises if it becomes that onerous.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: If he does, the poor employee will lose out. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: The Senator is correct. I did say I was going to do it. I am happy to confirm it is included in the proposal I will bring to Cabinet next Tuesday. The real question – this is where I have to make a political judgment – is whether it would be more in the interests of making the law work to have to bring this Bill back to Dáil Éireann again and join the queue, bearing in mind that it took...

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: No. It is an outside hope. Given the amount of rhetoric I hear about the fact that I am doing so little and saying so much, I say to both Houses of the Oireachtas, "Here is your chance, help me."

Seanad: Order of Business. - Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Report and Final Stages. (22 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: On a point of disorder, now that the Senator has raised the issue, the question of whether the Bill should be initiated in the Dáil or Seanad is a matter to which I had not given any consideration. If I were to get a promise of fair passage through this House—