Results 1-20 of 18,761 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I want to raise on the Order of Business today the need for a full debate in this House on facts and circumstances, some of which have only partly emerged in the media, concerning grave issues relating to the armoury section of An Garda Síochána, which have been dealt with by An Garda Síochána and the Department of justice. There has been limited media coverage of the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: Hear, hear.

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I would prefer them to be discussed separately.

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I support the substance of Senator Ryan's amendment for a number of reasons and I echo all the arguments she made without exception. First, the newspapers of Ireland have convinced themselves that their problem with defamation law lies with juries. They have convinced themselves of that narrative and nothing will dislodge them from that conviction. They have convinced themselves that...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I echo what Senator Stephenson has said about ignoring other voices in society. If the Irish Council for Civil Liberties thinks jury trials should not be abolished, if the Law Reform Commission thinks they should not be abolished and if the justice committee of this House and Dáil Éireann thinks they should not be abolished, who actually is demanding that they should be abolished?...

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (17 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I agree with Senator Stephenson's remarks. The funny thing is that if a person brought a case in the Circuit Court for defamation, the judge could disbelieve them. The judge in the Circuit Court may or may not give a long judgment one way or the other on the matter. The judge can come to a view, one way or another, without a jury. However, if a person does not think they got a fair...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I second the proposal.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (16 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I second the amendment proposed by Senator Clonan to the Order of Business. Somebody listening to the Order of Business today would be struck by the consistent expressions of horror across the House at what is happening in Gaza. The terms on which we decry it, deplore it and condemn it are very important. The accusation being made against Ireland by senior politicians in the United States,...

Seanad: Gaza: Motion (16 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I second the motion.

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: Normally, I would not comment on a section of this kind but I want to draw the attention of the House to what we are doing. We are proposing to amend the Planning and Development Act 2024. I have a copy of it here. The Act will be twice as long when it is translated into Irish. We are waiting for that process to take place. I want to put on the record of the House that the Bill was...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I share Senator Keogan's reservations about the Office of the Planning Regulator. I understand what the Minister has said on it emerging from one of the recommendations of the Mahon tribunal but, with the greatest of respect, the fact the tribunal had to deal with allegations of corruption in respect of zoning and rezoning by local authority members never required something as draconian as...

Seanad: Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages (15 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I support it.

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister and thank him for his attendance. There are many features of this Bill with which I am in complete agreement and there are others on which I am mainly in agreement, subject to some criticisms I might have to make. One of the principal functions of this legislation, as introduced by the then Minister, Deputy McEntee, was the abolition of juries in the High Court....

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Second Stage (9 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: Very fashionable.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (8 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I want to raise with the Leader of the House the possibility of having, before the House rises for the summer vacation, the opportunity to collectively consider a resolution on the situation in Gaza. Today, it is reported that Israel Katz, the defence minister for Israel, has announced a plan that the IDF is working on to remove all of the 2 million people from Gaza to a compound which it...

Seanad: Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: Now.

Seanad: Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I understand it is customary to allow a few words to be spoken on the decision that this House has unanimously taken to pass this legislation. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and thank her for her interest and co-operation in the whole process. As I indicated on the first day when this Bill was tendered for Second Stage consideration by the House, I am not here to score...

Seanad: Health (Scoliosis Treatment Services) Bill 2024: Report and Final Stages (2 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister. I note what she says about the apparent concentration of some surgical procedures in Blackrock. I ask her, the Department and the HSE to ask why that is happening and whether there is a differential between patients who have insurance and patients who do not in being seen in that context.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 (1 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I am happy to leave the final words from those who are not members of the committee to Senator Black. As I understand it, what Mr. Smyth saying is that, as between member states of the European Union, there is a treaty entitlement to prevent the importation of goods from one country to another on public policy grounds. That is a treaty right. Am I right in also thinking that with regard to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade: General Scheme of Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2025 (1 Jul 2025)

Michael McDowell: I know, but I am saying that in this particular case, an orange grown in Jaffa is in Israel and would not be covered by this, whereas an orange grown in the occupied territories would be covered by it.