Results 301-320 of 354 for likes to work speaker:Michael McDowell

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Seanad: Anti-Social Behaviour: Motion. (11 May 2005)

Michael McDowell: ...keeping those children who are most at risk in education by all possible means. It must also be dealt with through community policing, as has been said. I was glad my Department was in a position to assist the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights in sending a delegation recently to Britain to see how community policing is working there, as part of the...

Seanad: Registration of Deeds and Title Bill 2004: Second Stage (Resumed). (5 May 2005)

Michael McDowell: As someone who has always lived on unregistered land, however, it amazes me that we have such a complex system of proving title. I agree with another point in Senator Tuffy's contribution concerning lawyers. It is not in the interest of any lawyer that the land law should be so complex. There may be a few nerds in the legal profession who like this kind of work. However, the great majority of...

Written Answers — Criminal Prosecutions: Criminal Prosecutions (4 May 2005)

Michael McDowell: In May 1999 an interdepartmental review group was tasked to examine the Gaming and Lotteries Acts 1956-86. In its report, published in June 2000, the group concluded: separate standards for off-line and on-line environments will only create serious problems for society in the longer term. However, liability issues in the internet gambling area are likely to be as complex as in other areas of...

Written Answers — Residency Permits: Residency Permits (19 Apr 2005)

Michael McDowell: The immigration division of my Department has recently granted the person referred to by the Deputy permission to remain in the State and she was advised to attend her local immigration office to have her passport endorsed accordingly. The policy of my Department on long-term residency in the State varies according to the circumstances of the individual case. The principles governing the...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (12 Apr 2005)

Michael McDowell: ...care services. As the Deputy will be aware, there have been significant improvements in the provision of supports for the development of child care over the last number of years as the Government took steps to develop a child care infrastructure in Ireland by assisting the voluntary community sector and the private sector to develop capacity in the child care area. This Government has...

Deportation Orders. (12 Apr 2005)

Michael McDowell: In my statement to the Dáil during the Adjournment Debate on Tuesday, 22 March 2005, I dealt with the deportation of the person concerned. In my statement during the Adjournment Debate in Seanad Éireann on Thursday, 24 March 2005, I dealt with the basis of my decision to allow the person to return. The proposal put to me to deport this person was made in the belief of the proposing...

Deportation Orders. (12 Apr 2005)

Michael McDowell: If I had sufficient time, I would have said that the files are brought to my office for consideration, with a summary attached to each file. The volume of such files can be understood from the fact that since January 2001, 10,200 deportation orders have been signed by me or my predecessor. In 2004, the number of individual cases varied from ten to 20 on each working day, which is the result...

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

Michael McDowell: ——to be as equally flexible in their approach to these issues. I do not wish to become involved in a broad debate on this matter but it would be wrong were the Government to be highlighted as a party to the Weston Park agreement that did not deliver. I will pay tribute to Senator Mansergh, something I should do more often. I was present at Weston Park to dot the i's and cross the t's on...

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

Michael McDowell: I am pleased to have the opportunity to table this motion seeking the establishment of a tribunal of inquiry into suggestions of collusion in the brutal and callous murders of RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and RUC Superintendent Bob Buchanan by the Provisional IRA in 1989. The background to this motion originates as far back as August 2001 when, following discussions with the Northern...

Tribunals of Inquiry: Motion. (23 Mar 2005)

Michael McDowell: I move: That Dáil Éireann: —noting that following agreement reached between the British and Irish Governments at Weston Park in 2001, retired Canadian Supreme Court Judge Mr. Peter Cory was appointed to undertake a thorough investigation of allegations of collusion between British and Irish security forces and paramilitaries in six incidents; —noting that the aim of this process was to...

Written Answers — Courts Service: Courts Service (8 Mar 2005)

Michael McDowell: ...the Deputy will be aware, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, was established in 2004. I will consider the commencement of sections 13 and 14 of the Act when sufficient time has elapsed to consider the impact the board has had on the compensation regime. A legal costs working group has been established to identify ways of reducing legal costs and I would also like to await its...

Written Answers — Deportation Orders: Deportation Orders (3 Mar 2005)

Michael McDowell: Both persons referred to by the Deputy are young Nigerian nationals who arrived separately in the State in April 2001 and September 2002, respectively, as unaccompanied minors and claimed asylum. Both their applications for refugee status were refused following consideration by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and on appeal by the Office of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal....

Written Answers — Citizenship Applications: Citizenship Applications (1 Mar 2005)

Michael McDowell: An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy was received in the citizenship section of my Department on 25 July 2003. The average processing time for such applications is currently 24 months. On the basis of the current average processing time, therefore, it is likely that the application of the individual concerned will be finalised in or...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (1 Mar 2005)

Michael McDowell: The programme for Government and the progress of my Department's equal opportunities childcare programme are confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing and reviewing childcare services and to keeping childcare at the front of its social agenda. The Government is making considerable progress in increasing the supply of centre-based child care places and in enhancing the...

Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: From the Seanad (Resumed). (23 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: Any telecommunications service provider must keep this kind of material to avoid being at the mercy of any subscriber who could claim that the bill was a complete invention and that the provider's machine had gone mad and was just thinking up bills to throw at a subscriber. These data already exist. If people want to contest their bills or claim that something extraordinary has happened,...

Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: From the Seanad (Resumed). (23 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I fully empathise with the Deputy's concern that this amendment be fully understood before we accept it. If a European arrest warrant is issued in respect of Joe or Josephine Soap and is delivered to the Irish State for the purpose of having it executed against him or her while he or she is in Ireland, the issue that then arises is whether the requesting state intends to comply with its...

Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Bill 2002: From the Seanad. (23 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I wish to give some background to this set of amendments, as they were not present when the Bill was passed by this House. The data retention amendments, which are set out in amendments Nos. 3 to 9, inclusive, and their timing represent a response to a confluence of circumstances. In January of this year, the Data Protection Commissioner, a statutory officer who is independent of the Minister...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (16 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I understand that the NESC report referred to by the Deputy has not yet been published and therefore I am not in a position to comment on any findings it might contain until such time as it is published and available to me for consideration. My Department has responsibility for the development of child care to meet the needs of working parents and those in education and training preparatory...

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Second Stage. (10 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I made a change on Committee Stage in the Seanad to allow a declarant to omit the reference to the deity from the declaration if he or she wishes to do so. Provision is made in the Bill for the appointment of properly trained volunteer members to the Garda Síochána in the future. This provision attracted much comment during the debates in the Seanad. As I stated last week, this is entirely...

Northern Ireland Issues: Motion (Resumed). (9 Feb 2005)

Michael McDowell: I wish to share time with Deputies Kirk and Glennon and the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy. I speak as a constitutional republican who, to use the words of Article 3 of the Constitution, shares the firm will of the Irish nation in harmony and in friendship to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland in all the diversity of their identities and traditions,...