Results 1-20 of 25 for pat speaker:Michael McDowell

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Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2022: Report Stage (28 Mar 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...is not entitled to abrogate or overturn provisions of the Constitution unless and until the Irish people by referendum so decide. The mere fact it may suit the European Commission in its ongoing spat with Poland and Hungary to take up positions about what it names the rule of law is irrelevant. The rule of law in Ireland is the Constitution, subject to our EU obligations but not subject...

Seanad: National Cultural Institutions (National Concert Hall) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Second Stage (24 Jan 2023)

Michael McDowell: ...sector broadcasting is to give up the notion of a licence because it is impossible to license phones, laptops and tablets in any rational way. The former Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte, talked about people living in a cave who do not have access to these things and was dubbed the man in charge of the cave tax project at the time. Let us be honest;...

Seanad: Criminal Procedure Bill 2021: Committee Stage (26 Apr 2021)

Michael McDowell: ...victims, it is also an aid to the whole system. An acknowledgement of guilt and a sparing of the time of the court and of the court listing system by an early plea is generally given a judicial pat on the back when it comes to the imposition of any sentence. If we were to do what is proposed in amendment No. 1 we are certainly going to do what I warned against during the general...

Seanad: Central Mental Hospital (Relocation) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages (14 Dec 2020)

Michael McDowell: ...time, the management of Mountjoy indicated that it was not even possible economically to put toilets into cells there. It was in that context that the decision was made to have a new campus at Thornton Hall. It was anticipated at that time, and Professor Kennedy has acknowledged this, that his facility would be located at one end of that site, with its own entrance into it, but that it...

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

Michael McDowell: I did not have an opportunity due to the Committee on Procedure and Privileges meeting to participate in the debate earlier today. I do not want to make a Second Stage speech, but I am concerned that this measure is, in fact, overly complex to deal with a reaction to the Berlin D2 bar incident in Dublin and is not as necessary as might be thought.It certainly is not as urgent as might be...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (12 Jun 2019)

Michael McDowell: ...which is a form of taxation. It is a broadcasting levy. Surely the time has come for us to face up to this issue. It has been hanging around for years, ever since the former Minister for communications, Pat Rabbitte, talked about cavemen. It must be addressed at some stage.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (24 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...and every such inquiry immediately went into the sand. It was as a result of that issue that the harmful information provision was put into the Garda Síochána Act 2005 because the then Commissioner, Mr. Pat Byrne, had informed the Attorney General at the time that he was more or less powerless to carry out any investigation of these leaks unless he had statutory powers on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: -----and RTÉ and all the rest of it. The Minister's predecessor, former Deputy Pat Rabbitte, talked about only people in caves not having some form of such things and then we got the celebrated cave tax, as was proposed. If we are being honest about it, there is a very simple mechanism, which is to impose a sum per household regardless of whether they have a big yoke up on the wall or...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Jul 2018)

Michael McDowell: ...Transport, Tourism and Sport that we have appointed the last judges under the old system is wrong. More worrying is a report in The Irish Times, published on 25 March under the byline of a senior journalist, Mr. Pat Leahy. I do not believe this is fake news or exaggerated. He wrote: "Minister for Transport Shane Ross has said politicians are continuing to appoint 'their friends' as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2017 and Retransmission Fees: Discussion (Resumed) (3 Oct 2017)

Michael McDowell: .... The viewer's experience is hugely enhanced by TV platforms above the Saorview package, if I may use that term. We cannot be troglodytes - the word "cave" has been used in this context by the former Minister, former Deputy Pat Rabbitte - about this. The world is changing and information is transmitted in very different ways. When the Minister sent this Bill to the committee for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...has a normal mobile television in a caravan down the road from us, that person is liable for a licence of €160. There is something inconsistent in all of this. The Minister's predecessor, Pat Rabbitte, came up with the idea of having a charge on every home. Logically, he was correct. I really do believe that he was logically correct. He got a bit of stick because he said that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2017: Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment (27 Sep 2017)

Michael McDowell: ...People can defer it and so on. It is time for the Minister to grasp that nettle. The Minister must come out and say that is what he will do, though he must be more subtle than my good friend, Deputy Pat Rabbitte. He does not need a report from this committee to tell him that it is the way to go. There is no other way to go except to leave the system as it is. There is not some other...

Written Answers — Legal Aid Service: Legal Aid Service (27 Feb 2007)

Michael McDowell: ... Karen McCarthy 13,539 Brendan Kelly 13,371 Tom Power 13,093 Agnes McKenzie 12,964 David Kent 12,337 Barry O'Meara & Son 12,261 Deirdre Keane 12,153 Paul Gormley 12,091 Colin Lynch 11,989 Patricia Holohan & Co 11,800 Niamh Cronin 11,060 Nuala Dockry 10,924 Augustus Cullen Law 10,740 Nicholas Hosey 10,391 Philomena Murnane 10,293 John Henchion & Co 9,680 Maureen Cronin 9,672...

Written Answers — Visa Applications: Visa Applications (14 Dec 2006)

Michael McDowell: Further to Parliamentary Question No. 52 put down by Deputy Pat Carey for answer on the 30th November 2006, the Immigration Division of my Department was in contact with the person concerned requesting documentation. I understand the person concerned has recently submitted the requested documentation and the Immigration Division will be in contact with him shortly.

Written Answers — Northern Ireland Issues: Northern Ireland Issues (6 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: ..., this has not yet been executed. However, I understand that the Garda Síochána has been in direct contact with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and that the Garda authorities anticipate that all information sought will be made available in due course. I have already given a commitment to the family's solicitor and a family member that I will be in further contact with the...

Written Answers — Northern Ireland Issues: Northern Ireland Issues (4 Jul 2006)

Michael McDowell: I propose to take Questions Nos. 623 to 626, inclusive, together. My Department was first contacted about this matter in June 2005. A request for information from the Pat Finucane Centre was transmitted to my Department via the Department of Foreign Affairs. Officials of my Department, in turn, passed this request to An Garda Síochána, and a comprehensive record search was conducted in...

Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2006: Second Stage. (2 Jun 2006)

Michael McDowell: As my colleague, Deputy Brian Lenihan, pointed out yesterday on "Today with Pat Kenny", such a comprehensive declaration of the unconstitutionality of a criminal statute by the Supreme Court is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, in this country's history as an independent State. The first criminal case that was affected involved one of the appellants to the Supreme Court itself. That...

Written Answers — Appointments to State Boards: Appointments to State Boards (2 Mar 2006)

Michael McDowell: ...21 July, 2004 Mr. Maurice Dockrell, BL 21 July, 2004 Mr. Conor Bowman, BL 21 July, 2004 Ms Sinead Behan, Solicitor 21 July, 2004 Mr. Con Murphy, Solicitor 21 July, 2004 Mr. Patrick F. O'Connor, Solicitor 21 July, 2004 Mr. David Hickey 4 May, 2004 Censorship of Films Appeal Board Mr. Paul O'Higgins SC — Chairperson ...

Prison Building Programme: Motion. (28 Sep 2005)

Michael McDowell: ...Scannell Emerson Consulting Engineers and McCabe Durney Planning Consultants. It was evident to anyone who read the minutes of that meeting that this report was available to that meeting yet on Pat Kenny's radio programme today we heard there was no report. That has been repeated in the House today. It was evaluated and scored 333 points. This was another falsehood and the people who had...

Seanad: Tribunals of Inquiry: Motion. (24 Mar 2005)

Michael McDowell: ...both jurisdictions to undertake a thorough investigation of allegations of collusion between British and Irish security forces and paramilitaries in six cases. The six cases are the murders of Mr. Pat Finucane, a solicitor, Mr. Robert Hamill, Ms Rosemary Nelson, a solicitor, Mr. Billy Wright, the two RUC officers and Northern Ireland Lord Justice Maurice Gibson and Lady Cecily Gibson. The...