Results 121-140 of 18,437 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: We have a mandate to enact laws only on foot of our position under the Constitution. The first canon of construction of any law promulgated by the President after being passed by these two Houses is that it should be construed in a constitutional way. Throughout the Constitution, from the preamble on, are values of reasonableness, constitutional justice and charity. The fundamental rule of...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: Senators will recall that in our debate on Committee Stage, I gave an undertaking that I would bring forward a Report Stage amendment to make it clear that the withdrawal provisions provided for in section 6 of the Bill would not apply in circumstances where an applicant is found in breach of section 9(4)(b) of the Act of 1996. Paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of that section prohibits an...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: Government amendments Nos. 14 and 21 arise from an indication I gave on Committee Stage that I would look at the time limit of ten working days, as set out in section 6 of the Bill. This ten day limit, in effect a fortnight, would arise in a case where the Refugee Applications Commissioner or the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, as the case may be, becomes aware that the applicant is no longer at...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: The effect of the amendment would be to allow an appeal in all cases except where the person fails to provide an address within five working days, as provided for in section 6(b)(ii) of the Bill, which amends section 9 of the 1996 Act, or under subsection 14(b) of section 9 of the 1996 Act, where a person in detention indicates a wish to leave the State and his or her application is deemed...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I can understand the Senator's motives in moving this amendment, but I ask her to consider the practicability of the proposal. In section 6(g), the Bill amends section 19(2) of the Refugee Act, 1996, by removing the requirement to obtain the consent of the Minister prior to the publication – in a written publication available to the public – or broadcast of matters likely to lead members...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I am advised by the Attorney General's office that the tribunal has within its discretion the power to publish decisions with sufficient details obscured to preserve the anonymity of applicants if it so wishes. That would be the appropriate way in which to release this material. However, it is right for the tribunal to select the cases of sufficient significance to merit public awareness,...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I have made the point that the tribunal has that power already. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide it. To say the tribunal may make decisions available to the public is to state the obvious. Unless this is an appeal for publication to be done normally or as of course, the amendment proposes something which the tribunal can already do. The chairman of the tribunal could gather together...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: The amendment proposes to remove the restriction on the right of appeal from a decision of the High Court to the Supreme Court in judicial review proceedings under section 5 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act 2000. Currently, under that Act, leave to appeal to the Supreme Court can only be granted where the High Court certifies that its decision involves a point of law of exceptional...

Seanad: Immigration Bill 2002: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage. (4 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I thank Senators for their participation in the debate, for the time they invested in preparing amendments and considering the text of the Bill and all the useful amendments tabled, particularly those I was in a position to accept. I hope this legislation will improve the law. I sound one note of warning that I do not think Senators have seen the back of me in respect of this legislation...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (19 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: The Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002 is important and long awaited legislation. I have just been reflecting on how long. In 1978 the former Supreme Court judge, Mr. Justice Henchy, reported and appended to his report a draft Bill. The mills of God grind slow but grind exceedingly fine. Most agree that our law on insanity is in need of reform, a view expressed for some time by the Judiciary,...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (19 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: That is correct. I will deal now with the main provisions of the Bill in more detail. Section 1 deals with definitions, and two matters in particular are worthy of special mention. The first concerns the definition of designated centre, which is further explained in section 2. This section follows section 5 in the draft Bill proposed by the Henchy committee in 1978 and it provides that it is...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (19 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: Now those terms are confined to politics.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (19 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: There is some justice.

Seanad: Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (19 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: I thank Senators for what has been a thoughtful debate. Every contribution was well thought through and has given me pause to reflect on what is contained in the Bill. The fact that it has been a long time in gestation should not be a reason for not getting it right and making improvements if needed at this late stage. Senator Maurice Hayes referred to the delays in implementing the Mental...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (19 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: There is humanity in our legal system which is sometimes forgotten completely in the social rhetoric. The case of Ernest Saunders and his remarkable recovery always reminds me of the occasion when a private detective was very convinced that a certain plaintiff in the Four Courts was a complete fraud. The plaintiff had appeared at an earlier stage on a crutch, but had now descended into a...

Seanad: Criminal Law (Insanity) Bill 2002: Second Stage. (19 Feb 2003)

Michael McDowell: Precisely. The gentleman in the wheelchair replied, "You may but I am off to Lourdes." Miracles have often figured in the courts and Mr. Saunders was not the first to benefit from them. This Bill is overdue and every aspect of it requires careful thought. I am encouraged by the tone and content of the contributions today to feel that Committee Stage will be very useful, and that if we do not...

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...