Results 481-500 of 18,463 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I know there is no number 1, 2 or 3 on the shortlist but is somebody who is shortlisted entitled to know it? Is anybody else entitled to know it? Is it a secret and is it an offence to reveal it? That is a point I would love to know about and I do not see it in the legislation. Maybe it is there.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I follow that. A person will know whether they did or did not make the shortlist.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Most people who go to the trouble of applying and being interviewed would like to know what happened and whether they were or were not in the top three.Some people are so modest that they do not want to know whether they made the shortlist. Assuming that is the case is there some rule that the identity of the persons on the shortlist coming to the Government is to be kept secret except for...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Let me tease this out. If the three names are sent forward to the Minister for Justice where does it say in the Bill that the Minister for Justice is not entitled to tell anybody else who is on the list?

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I fully appreciate what the Minister has just said but we need more clarity. The Minister gets a list of three names and goes to the leaders of the coalition parties in Government. Are they prohibited from asking any questions of anybody else as to which of the three is the better or more suitable candidate? I do not think it is in the Bill. This is not a fanciful thought. If I was the...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Or forbidden, yes. It is a fairly important point because if there is no secrecy in this it will become known that Judge Lynn Ruane or whoever was rejected by the Cabinet.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Such a thing would happen. Let us not cod ourselves. If people ask others for advice as to which of the three should be appointed or what are the qualities of the three as far as the Government is concerned, such issues would involve who is liberal and who is conservative. If they are free to make those inquiries this will leak like a sieve. There is no point in codding ourselves that...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: Consultatively.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I appreciate there is a difference between canvassing and the process whereby the leader of a small party in coalition would receive three names from the Minister for Justice and say "I do not know these three people from Adam and I do not know between them, which of them is the best, because the Bill says there is no order". If I was the leader of a party in the Government I would certainly...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: The bottom line of this section is that there is no prohibition on somebody approaching a member of the commission or the Government to suggest that a particular person should be shortlisted or, if shortlisted, should be appointed. That may be the law we are about to make, namely, that anybody except the applicant can approach anybody on the commission. It would also go the other way around...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I spoke to the Minister during the earlier stages of this debate about section 42(1), which states: (1) The Minister may request the Commission to make recommendations for appointment or for nomination for appointment to judicial office, as the case may be, where— (a) a judicial office stands vacant, or (b) he or she reasonably anticipates that there will be a vacancy in a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not think I am exaggerating when I say it is three months, but it certainly must be two months. You must put up your advertisements, give people a reasonable amount of time to consider whether they want to apply and give them time in which to get any requisite references. Then the list comes back. In the case of the District Court, for example, if there are 40 applicants, the first...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 36: In page 28, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following: “Right of Government to advise President 43. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 42, nothing in this Part affects, limits or inhibits the right of the Government in any case where it advises the President to appoint any member of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, or the High Court to...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: It seems that the process of filling the position of Chief Justice will be carried out by the commission, normally where the Chief Justice is in office and will participate as one of the four judicial members of the commission making a decision, but if, for instance, there was a resignation or whatever, the next senior judge of that court would carry out that function. Am I correct in...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not know whether the provisions of section 45(2) answer Senator Ward's query.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I think it does, in fact. On a slightly different point, in relation to subsection (4), the Judicial Council appoints a substitute member if one of its elected members is looking for promotion or whatever. Are they free to nominate any member to be a member of the commission? For instance, if the person for whom the substitution is made was originally a barrister, can he or she appoint a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not quite see why it applies in section 45(4). It seems that the board of the Judicial Council is free to appoint anybody who is on the council.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: That is when they are electing somebody. He or she has to be originally a barrister or originally a solicitor, but where the person is merely acting up for one occasion, does that balance have to be maintained?

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (15 Nov 2022)

Michael McDowell: I do not think that is right.

Seanad Public Consultation Committee: Other Voices on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Referendums and Lessons from Other Jurisdictions (27 Oct 2022)

Michael McDowell: I welcome our guests and I wish Mr. Thomson bon voyage. It is 24 years since I and Paul Farrell served together on a committee that reformed Irish company law, and it actually succeeded and was a very worthwhile proposition. The points I want to make are as follows. There is a really serious issue as to the clarity of proposition. The Brexit referendum shows clearly that if you ask people...