Results 261-280 of 18,436 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022: Second Stage (13 Jun 2023)

Michael McDowell: A kinder society and a moral society are not necessarily the same thing. One can be unkind and offensive. Free speech, sometimes, is offensive to other people and people legitimately cause offence and take offence from free speech. A guarantee of free speech without the right to offend has, on many occasions, been described by people across civilisation as worthless. The same applies to...

Seanad: Garda Reserve: Statements (31 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister. I have been pressing for this debate for some time and I want to say a few things. When the Garda Reserve was originally canvassed in Dáil Éireann, it received all-party support. The one group that was opposed to it at the time was the Garda Representative Association, GRA. One of its officers said he would be waiting in the long grass for me as a result...

Seanad: Garda Reserve: Statements (31 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: Not agreed. I want to say one thing. We have had two Ministers in the House today. Not one number has been mentioned to us in the context of how many people it is intended to recruit to the Garda Reserve. That is a shame. I am not agreeable to the adjournment.

Seanad: Garda Reserve: Statements (31 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: Under the rules of the House, I do not think I am entitled to. However, I think it is amazing that I have been campaigning here for two years and not one figure, not even one target, has been mentioned in the course of the afternoon. That is a real shame. I withdraw my objection to the adjournment.

Seanad: Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023: Second Stage (31 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I congratulate the members of the Fine Gael group here today for proposing this Bill and the members of Young Fine Gael for coming up with the legislative plan. Two points occur to me. When I looked at it, I asked myself, looking back at the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997, if it was sufficient. The answer is it is not, and for a number of reasons. It is not sufficient...

Seanad: Non-Fatal Offences against the Person (Amendment) (Spiking) Bill 2023: Second Stage (31 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I see a few things I would change.

Seanad: Academic Precarity: Motion (24 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I second the motion.

Seanad: Academic Precarity: Motion (24 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister of State this evening. I welcome the Leas-Chathaoirleach's initiative in establishing sectoral debates for the various university panels. I compliment Senator Higgins on taking the initiative with this particular motion. There is now considerable publicity about the plight of postdoctoral students and the fact they are effectively being exploited by the universities...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I want to raise two matters on the Order of Business. The first relates to the Garda Reserve. It seems to me that despite raising this issue on a number of occasions in this House, we have not had a debate on it and we have had no sign of any interest in staging such a debate. The Garda Reserve has dwindled down to practically nothing due to deliberate neglect. Likewise, we discovered the...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: It is not quite approved, for this reason-----

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: No, we are not. The Leader spoke about Senator Paul Daly's contribution on wilding one's garden. Ragwort, thistles and dock are twice as beneficial to bees as wildflowers.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (23 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I am just making the point that they are illegal under the Noxious Weeds Act and that anybody who has them on his or her land is liable to be prosecuted.

Seanad: Address to Seanad Éireann by Mr. Bertie Ahern, Former Taoiseach (23 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: In some institutions on an occasion like this, two motions are proposed. One is motion of thanks to the speaker for his address and the second is that the paper should be printed and circulated. I theoretically propose both of those motions. The account you have given is one that I have not heard in detail before. I am very glad that you have had the opportunity to put on the record the...

Seanad: Civil Defence Bill 2023: Second Stage (18 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: Welcome the students from St. Pius X Boys’ National School as well. I share what Senator O'Reilly said about the great work done by the Civil Defence. I also share his sense of pride in the record of the Civil Defence over the years as a vital part of our social fabric, but I am alarmed by one thing. In 2015, the Department of Defence published a White Paper on Defence, which stated...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I propose the Minister of State explain to us the effect of amendment No. 7. Who is going to get lump sums and payments, and why, and in what circumstance?

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I want confirmation of the reason the Title of the Bill is being amended, because this set of provisions is not quite germane to lobbying. When I looked at the Order Paper, I was trying to work out how it all fit together. It is a different carriage in the legislative train. It is nothing to do with the registration of lobbyists.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I did a bit of it in my own time.

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 3: In page 5, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “Insertion of section 10A into Principal Act 7.The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 10: “Transparency relating to the finances of lobbying bodies 10A.(1) Where a person, whether a natural person, a body corporate or an unincorporated body...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: The purpose of this amendment is to deal with a situation I have found perplexing on occasion. We are lobbied by groups, which are largely funded by the Exchequer, to make changes in Acts or do various things.I will provide an example. When it came to the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018, an alcohol awareness group largely funded by the Exchequer lobbied us extensively in respect of that...

Seanad: Regulation of Lobbying (Amendment) Bill 2022: Report and Final Stages (17 May 2023)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Minister of State for her positive remarks about the background motivation to the amendment. A number of things occur to me. Senator Boylan referred to the Irish Academy of Engineering and she thinks it is pro-fossil fuel. I have a slightly different view. I think it sometimes tries to persuade people to be realistic, that we could have a crisis on our hands if we do not have...