Results 18,581-18,600 of 18,736 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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

Michael McDowell: I thank Members for their considerate approach to the Bill. In light of the length of time it has taken to pass the Bill, I would have preferred if the debate on it had been more evenly divided between both Houses. I am grateful to Members on all sides for understanding my position in this. It was somewhat egregious that, after 11 months, the Bill had not been finalised by the Dáil and that...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (15 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: I am pleased to present the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002. This is much awaited draft legislation. The phrase "much awaited" rankles slightly because it has been a long time going through the system to this point. It is badly needed legislation and I hope its passage through the House will be more expeditious than its passage through the Lower House. The Bill deals with an area...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (15 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: A commitment.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (15 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: Just food.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (15 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: There should not be.

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Public Order) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (15 May 2003)

Michael McDowell: It will be addressed in the Intoxicating Liquor Bill.

Seanad: Crime Levels: Statements. (3 Apr 2003)

Michael McDowell: I thank the House for affording me the opportunity to speak on the subject of crime. Senators may be aware that, in reply to a parliamentary question last month, I undertook to publish provisional crime figures for 2002 as soon as possible, pending the publication of fully validated statistics by the Garda authorities in the commissioner's annual report for 2002. This mirrors a similar...

Seanad: Crime Levels: Statements. (3 Apr 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have stated the facts frankly and put the good, the bad and the ugly regarding crime before the House.

Seanad: Crime Levels: Statements. (3 Apr 2003)

Michael McDowell: We know what happens at the bottom.

Seanad: Crime Levels: Statements. (3 Apr 2003)

Michael McDowell: This has been an interesting debate and I have learnt a lot. I am deeply grateful to all Members for their contributions. It would be impossible to echo even a fraction of the original analyses offered and I hope no Member is offended if I am selective in making my response. Senator Maurice Hayes referred to his experiences with the Patten report, to the cross-Border aspect of crime and to...

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: I thank Senator Terry and her colleagues for raising this important issue. I identify somewhat with Senator Minihan's point about the tone of the language used in the motion, which is slightly surprising in the factual matrix from which it emerges. If we get to the point of recognising, being concerned, deploring and making demands, the question is when did this moral insight suddenly strike...

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: I am glad to see this motion recites the fact that participation in party politics should not be a bar to appointment. What amuses me most is that in the six to eight months that I have been the holder of this office not one Member of the Oireachtas, who is not a member of the Government parties, has bothered to suggest one person to me for appointment to a prison committee.

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: It tells its own story that the culture being decried in this motion was well and truly ingrained and that nobody had any different expectation of me.

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: If Members of the Oireachtas, in particular, wish to be appointed to a prison committee, because the Act envisages that, I would be quite happy to do that. I would like to see Members of the Oireachtas putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak, in terms of time and volunteering to be appointed to some of these bodies although I will not make them into committees of TDs. Bearing in...

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: Most people do not know these committees exist, but those who do and are concerned about them mainly belong to the political class or the journalistic class in our society and have a perception that these are effectively gravy trains for people who are appointed at a deliberately great distance from the prisons in question to maximise tax free expenses. I have put my mind to wondering how...

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: I prefer the terms and-—

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: —the lack of hypocrisy in the Government amendment. The time should be gone when anybody would write to me and say, as one person did to one of my predecessors, a certain local authority member wanted a position as far away from the other end of the country as possible. I am not in the business of point scoring here this evening.

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: When one is in the business of deploring, one should always search through one's letters.

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: When one makes a public commitment to chase a Minister on the issue, one should take a quick scan through one's own letters file before making a complete idiot of oneself. The truth is this is serious business.

Seanad: Prison Visiting Committees: Motion. (5 Mar 2003)

Michael McDowell: It was a far-sighted idea that a group of people, whether drawn from the political class, Members of the Oireachtas, or wherever was envisaged in 1925, would be entitled to present themselves at any prison of which they were a visiting committee at any hour of day or night and be shown to any corner of that prison and speak to any prisoner. That is a remarkable provision for its time. I...