Results 141-160 of 18,437 for speaker:Michael McDowell

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...

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: 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: 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...