• Independent Senator (National University of Ireland)
• Former Progressive Democrats TD for Dublin South East
• Left the Dáil on 24 May 2007 — General election
• Entered the Seanad on 25 April 2016 — General election
• Email me whenever Michael McDowell speaks (no more than once per day)

• Voting record
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Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Oct 2025)

“I move amendment No. 5: In page 7, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: “PART 4 DEFAMATORY STATEMENT 6. Section 2 of the principal Act is hereby amended by the substitution of the following for the definition of “defamatory statement” appearing in that section: “ ‘defamatory statement’ means a statement that tends to cause harm...”

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Oct 2025)

“I will come back to them at a later stage. We are not on Report Stage yet. I will be proposing them later.”

Seanad: Defamation (Amendment) Bill 2024: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Oct 2025)

“The Minister has proposed in section 8 that there should be a provision which deals slightly with the circumstances we are discussing here but it is inadequate. There is not much point in waiting until section 8 is reached to point out that it is no answer to the points that have been raised by Senators. It proposes to extend the defence of qualified privilege to situations where the...”

More of Michael McDowell's recent appearances

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• Has spoken in 36 committee discussions and Dáil debates in the last year — average among Senators.
• People have made 0 comments on this Senator's speeches — average among Senators.
• 23 people are tracking whenever this Senator speaks — email me whenever Michael McDowell speaks.
• Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. "public-private partnership") 1535 times in debates — well above average among Senators.
  (Yes, this is a silly statistic. We include it to draw your attention to why you should read more than just these numbers when forming opinions.)