Results 81-100 of 725 for long speaker:Michael McDowell

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Light Rail Projects (24 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: ...of this House is a Minister of State. I congratulate the Senator on her appointment. It is a major innovation. The last time this was tried was with the late Senator James Dooge. That was a long time ago. The Constitution provides for someone such as Senator Hackett to be a Minister of State. I am very glad that is the case. The topic I am raising concerns the future of the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: .... They do not understand it. I do, however, blame the Department of Justice and Equality for asking us to give An Garda Síochána the authority to enforce laws in a manner which effectively recognises that criminal activity can carry on as long as food is served in the appropriate way and people do not stay on the premises after 11.30 p.m. As is obvious, I support the...

Seanad: Criminal Justice (Enforcement Powers) (Covid-19) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (10 Sep 2020)

Michael McDowell: ...or the Minister for Health is making regulations in respect of premises which lie completely outside the law.There is no provision in Irish law for a casino to be operated in Ireland. God knows, some of us who have been here long enough remember when there were efforts to open casinos and that led to unfortunate consequences politically. There is no provision in Irish law to operate a...

Seanad: Election of Cathaoirleach (29 Jun 2020)

Michael McDowell: ...that he told many Members that he was in the business of reforming the House. He has given that commitment and I hope he does not mind me saying that we will hold him to it over his term of office, however long that might be. My family, like the Cathaoirleach's, has Civil War scars. In these years of celebrating centenaries, it is important that we, as a political community, approach...

Seanad: Civil Law (Costs in Probate Matters) Bill 2017: Report and Final Stages (17 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...from the estate on the one hand and a totally exclusionary rule on the other. Giving the Judiciary the right to make a ruling which does not follow the event in the case, on equitable grounds, as long as it is stated in their order, is totally reasonable. I am very glad to support the amendment proposed.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...question relating to the performance of their judicial function that could in any way influence the commission in determining who to recommend to the Government. I do not want to draw this out too long. If these amendments are rejected by the Minister, and I believe they will be, the clear implication is that members of the Judiciary will not be immunised, which Senator Bacik's amendment...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: Why were we kept here for so long in making these points and challenging the very foundations of this legislation? The answer is that one man's vanity had to be appeased. He is the man who said he would end cronyism in the appointment of judges. The Minister must now accept, with the two provisions that I have drawn attention to, that the Bill does not have the effect that the Minister,...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (11 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: It did not seem that long when it was happening.

Seanad: Finance Bill (Certified Money Bill) 2019: Report and Final Stages (10 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: I will not be long and I am not engaging in any kind of filibuster. I am just saying-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (10 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ..., of a recommendation to the Government that the person be appointed to a judicial office specified in the recommendation." To understand the significance of this amendment one must look at the Long Title to the Bill which states: An Act to establish a body to be known as [...] the Judicial Appointments Commission; to provide for the making, by that body, of recommendations in respect...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Future Funding of Public Service Broadcasting: Discussion (10 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: How long remains on the contracts that have been provided for?

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (4 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...I welcome to the Gallery fifth class pupils from St. Pius X girls' national school in Terenure - Ms Barron's class - who are guests of Senator Ardagh. I know two of the pupils, Lucy Breen and Joni Long, and I hope they enjoy their tour here today. Also in the Gallery is a young gentleman named Noah Makris who does not attend the girls' national school, for obvious reasons, but who is...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: A good and long-standing family friend of mine, Mr. Garret FitzGerald, was once alleged to have asked, "That is all right in practice but does it work out in theory?" It is not true that he was the first to have said it. If one googles the phrase, one will find out it was said about 30 years before Mr. FitzGerald was alleged to have said it. It reminds me, however, of one proposition. I...

Seanad: Finance Bill 2019: Committee Stage (3 Dec 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...because of an absence of patriotism. It does not really matter to me very much what the internal thought processes of those people are; it is about the practical effect on the Exchequer in the long run. That is the crucial question. When I say that, I am not being cynical at all. For instance, we had a very close shave very recently with the proposal to change the 183-day residency...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...person completely. That was the point that I was trying to make and I hope that I was not unclear in what I am saying. One group of people is permanently and by definition excluded, no matter how long ago they held judicial office or functions similar to that of the Director of Public Prosecutions or Attorney General outside the State. It is easy, with regard to paragraph (b), to be...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (27 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...demands as a purgation of their potential disloyalty to the idea of having a role in choosing members of the Bench. I have not seen any justification offered for the period of 15 years.It is an immensely long period of time. I will give an example. If somebody studies law, and there is no problem about studying law, that person can have as many BCL degrees as he or she wants and still...

Seanad: Provision of Accommodation and Ancillary Services to Applicants for International Protection: Statements (27 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...situation in which there are people who are very obviously abusing xenophobia, the fear of immigration and of foreigners, for political purposes. One does not have to search the Internet for very long to see its seeds. While I do not want to give excessive publicity to it because it is sad enough in its own way, to see someone going into a halal shop and trying to provoke an incident...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: I support Senator Norris's amendment. This body, which is intended to be established for the long term, is going to be one where the chief qualifying attribute for the chair is that he or she, when appointed eventually-----

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...and Equality's attention to, that somehow there is some inside group of people making these decisions and that the Government is not getting the best talent available. I ask him to consider long and hard whether all the people, whom he has recently appointed, would wade through this process that he is establishing to become judges had it been in operation for the last year. I know, in my...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Report Stage (Resumed) (26 Nov 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...for which he or she had to be a practising barrister or solicitor - then that person would thereafter never be capable of being a member of the Irish judicial appointments commission, no matter for how long. This is not a 15-year limit; it is forever and ever and the person could never carry out that function. One must ask why this is being done. Why would a young woman who did two...