Results 61-80 of 18,435 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (16 Apr 2024)

Michael McDowell: I am talking about-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (16 Apr 2024)

Michael McDowell: My right-hand man knows I have an account and CAB wants to know from him where I have the account, whether that is Dubai or somewhere.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (16 Apr 2024)

Michael McDowell: Not all barristers are in that position.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (16 Apr 2024)

Michael McDowell: It says a search warrant can have ancillary power.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2024: Discussion (16 Apr 2024)

Michael McDowell: I have in mind a person who is not being searched or is not in a place.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Mar 2024)

Michael McDowell: On the day that is in it, I will commence by expressing my own personal thanks to the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, for all of the work he has done for Ireland during his period as Minister, Tánaiste and Taoiseach. They have been stressful and hard years and I fully understand the toll that such service can take on people who have dedicated themselves to public elected office. I want...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (20 Mar 2024)

Michael McDowell: Did the Taoiseach show Senator Horkan the paper?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (6 Mar 2024)

Michael McDowell: He is building a gallows this weekend.

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (5 Mar 2024)

Michael McDowell: I want to mention a matter today of considerable importance. The European Commission has imposed a lump sum fine of €2.5 million and a daily fine of €10,000 on Ireland for failure to transpose the Audiovisual Media Services directive. This House established a committee, after grave difficulty and resistance from some quarters in the permanent government of Ireland, the...

Seanad: Special Measures in the Public Interest (Derrybrien Wind Farm) Bill 2023: Second Stage (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This is a special and unusual Bill. It arises in the circumstances that ESB, through a subsidiary company called Gort Windfarms Limited., took a lease of property in the mountains between counties Clare and Galway. It built a wind farm on the land it leased, with a considerable number of wind turbines and enough capacity to power 30,000...

Seanad: Special Measures in the Public Interest (Derrybrien Wind Farm) Bill 2023: Second Stage (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: Do not exaggerate.

Seanad: Special Measures in the Public Interest (Derrybrien Wind Farm) Bill 2023: Second Stage (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: I will surprise and shock Senator Boylan by saying virtually everything she said I agree with, except for one bit, which is that she wants this place torn down and €200 million worth of investment to be smashed up. There is potential for huge environmental damage from the remedial works she wants undertaken to make an environmental point. That is a big mistake. I invite the Senator...

Seanad: Special Measures in the Public Interest (Derrybrien Wind Farm) Bill 2023: Second Stage (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: Removing them from that environment will be a massive operation. I was glad Senator Kyne said local opinion is with us on this. It was suggested at the time that some environmentalists locally were wholly opposed to this. Possibly there were a few but we spoke to local people from the community when we visited Derrybrien and were satisfied the people of Derrybrien were with us and wanted...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: I thank the Chair and my colleagues for allowing me to intervene at this point. I was listening to what Gerard Guinan was saying about politics and the Civil War and military men being involved in politics and reflecting when he said that. I was loaned a bound copy of An tÓglach for 1922-23. It is a weekly magazine published by the Army. It congratulated Richard Mulcahy, the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: I mentioned the Secretary General of the Department of Defence being ex officio a member of a body that is supposed to be an independent adviser to its own Minister. I think back to a time when I was Minister for Justice. It never occurred to me to appoint the Secretary General of the Department of Justice to be part of the Garda management or its oversight body. Is that consistent-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: Maybe I was not sufficiently imaginative. The result of these provisions would be that the director of military prosecutions and the military judge will have nobody to stand up for them - no union or representative body - in their dealings with the Department. Is that right?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: I have a final comment. The point I was making was the function of this oversight body is to advise the Minister and it is stated to be independence advice, yet his or her right-hand person is on the body that is supposed to give him independent advice. If I had tried that with An Garda Síochána, I would not have got away with it. That is all I am saying.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: I will make one point. It occurs to me that there is a slightly sinister aspect to this - that the Government wants military judges and the military director of public prosecutions not to be members of RACO or whatever and, at the same time, it is proposed to amend the Defence Acts to make it an offence to make critical remarks about Government policy. Perhaps the Government thinks that if...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence: General Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2023: Discussion (20 Feb 2024)

Michael McDowell: I will withdraw the term "sinister" and replace it with "unusual".