Results 61-80 of 18,437 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: Senator Ryan has never had to operate an airline. No airline can operate a system whereby it checks people are properly documented when they arrive at their destination. No airline will do that because it would lose money hand over fist by having to pay to send them back again. This legislation will require the documentation of every person travelling to Ireland to be checked before boarding....

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: I know. Either we have carrier liability law or we do not. The public would be surprised and shocked to hear the position being taken by Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: The Senator will have plenty of time to reply. This is an open-ended debate so far. We must face reality. Ireland is the only member state of the European Union without carrier liability law. There would be no point in having this law if I were to accede to the amendment that a person not incur any liability where he or she declares an intention to claim asylum thereby rendering him or her...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: No, it is not. As things stand, one cannot board a flight to America without a visa. Aer Lingus would not carry a person who is not properly documented. The airline would not do it because it would have to bear the cost of bringing that person back.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: Yes. That happens at some airports.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: The point I am making is that one does not board a plane to America undocumented.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: Yes, there is. The purpose of the amendment is that a person would incur no liability if his or her documents were false and he or she was claiming asylum in Ireland. We cannot have laws like that. Anybody who thinks we should, should go out to the plinth and tell the Irish people that he or she supports the idea of an undocumented person being able to arrive at Dublin Airport simply because...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: Yes, it is. Let us be clear about the point that was argued. It was said that Senator Mansergh's point was unrealistic when he argued that asylum seekers with no documentation or forged documentation would be picked up at the check-in desk at the airport. This is a nonsense. If some Members are against the Bill in principle, so be it. They should vote against it at the end of the debate....

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: Let us be real. We are talking in general terms about our putting in place laws which already operate in every other EU member state. This amendment seeks to ensure that we put in place some paper law which means nothing at all. I cannot understand the logic of that. If one exempts from section 2(1)(c) any person who is an asylum seeker, one casts upon the airline, be it on the tarmac in...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: The Dublin Convention applies to movement inside the Union.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: I am interested in the variety of views being expressed. Let us look at Article 26 of the Schengen acquis, of which Ireland is a contracting party, which states: The Contracting Parties undertake, subject to the obligations arising out of their accession to the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951 relating to the Status of Refugees, as amended by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967, and in...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: One has to bring common sense to bear on these matters.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: We do that kind of thing in the real world. Common sense requires that carriers do not fly people around Europe or across the Atlantic if there is a chance that they will have to fly them back again at their own expense.

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: This measure is not extra-territorial in its effect. If airlines want to check people as they arrive into Irish airspace, they are perfectly free to do so. If they want to organise their airlines on the basis that they only check documentation as an aeroplane lands in Dublin, they are perfectly free to do so. The reality, however, is that no airline will conduct its business in this manner,...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage. (18 Dec 2002)

Michael McDowell: I have already told Senator Ryan that in the real world people will not be checked when an aircraft has landed on the runway at Dublin Airport. The time for airlines to comply with their obligations is at the point of embarkation. That is where they will have make their judgment. If people are given an exemption at that point on the basis of refugee status, it can only be either that the...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: This amendment is by way of an advance party, so to speak. It brings forward, in a simple and relatively unrefined way, the principle which will be covered in much greater detail by the Bill on employment permits being developed under the aegis of my colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Harney. It has long been a source of concern that there is a...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: In 2001 some 2,600 work permit employees changed employer and the figure is likely to exceed 3,000 in 2000. There is no question, therefore, of people being handcuffed to a particular employer. If the measure was draconian or anti-business, I would be the last to propose it. One must distinguish between legitimate business and unfair business. Those who obey the rules deserve to be protected...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: Some 40,000 work permits were issued in 2002, of which 16,500 were renewals. This means 25,000 economic migrants entered the country in 2002 and were facilitated with work permits, a very significant inflow. I ask Senator Tuffy to have regard to the interests of workers here, who have to be protected against unfair competition. Whereas one might reasonably argue that in working the individual...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: The Office of the Attorney General advised that, as was decided in the case of The People v. Quilligan by the High Court, reasonableness was inherent in any provision empowering a member of the Garda to arrest a person on suspicion of having committed an offence. However, in so far as the Senator's amendment underlines that fact and reminds those who exercise this power that they must act...

Seanad: Immigration Bill, 2002: Committee Stage (Resumed). (29 Jan 2003)

Michael McDowell: The amendment would create open season on the labour market by providing that all non-nationals entitled to be in the State would be free from the obligation to obtain an employment permit. The wording would exempt all non-nationals and then particularise a group of non-nationals, somewhat redundantly, who would be exempt on particular grounds. Thus, many non-EEA nationals who would come here...