Michael McDowell
| Michael McDowell link (Lawyer, politician) | |
|---|---|
| File:Michael McDowell 2024.jpg | |
| Born | 1 May 1951 Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Alma mater | Gonzaga College, University College Dublin, King's Inn |
| Spouse | Niamh Brennan |
| Party | Independent, (2009-), Progressive Democrats, (1985–2009) |
| Relatives | Eoin MacNeill |
Michael Eoin McDowell is an Irish politician and lawyer who attended three Bilderberg meetings, in 1992, 2007 and 2011.
Education
Born in Dublin, he attended the Jesuit school Gonzaga College, then at University College Dublin where he became auditor of the UCD Law Society. He later attended the King's Inns in Dublin where he achieved the Barrister-at-Law degree in 1974.
Career
He became involved in politics, initially as a member of Fine Gael. He one of the founders of the liberal Progressive Democrats in 1985.
Although the Progressive Democrats never again won more than 10 seats in the Dáil, it formed coalition governments with Fianna Fáil 1989–1992, and 1997–2009. These successive years as the government's junior coalition partner gave the party an influence on Irish politics and economics disproportionate to its small size.
McDowell was the Attorney General of Ireland from 1999 to 2002. After elections in 2002, he was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Justice, Equality and Legal Reform in the re-elected coalition government with the Fianna Fáil under Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. At the same time he became president of the Progressive Democrats.
McDowell's Criminal Justice (Terrorist Offences) Act, 2005 on telecommunications data retention compels service providers to store all telephone, SMS and internet records for three years and provide them to police on request.[1]
On 13 June 2006, Prime Minister Ahern additionally appointed him as Deputy Prime Minister (Tánaiste), following the resignation of the previous incumbent, Mary Harney. In addition, he became her successor as chairman of the Progressive Democrats.
When his party suffered a crushing defeat in the parliamentary elections in May 2007 and he and five other deputies lost six of the eight parliamentary seats in total, he resigned from the government on June 14, 2007 and at the same time resigned as party chairman.
After leaving Dáil Éireann, he worked again as a lawyer. He was elected to Seanad Éireann (Senate) as an independent candidate in 2016. He was re-elected in 2020 and 2025.[2]
He is critical of mass migration to Ireland.[3]
He is part of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.
COVID dissidence
Michael McDowell in March 2022 published a COVID Lockdown-sceptic piece entitled Can someone please tell me what the Covid plan is?[4]
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090521134037/http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2005/en/act/pub/0002/index.html
- ↑ https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/first-candidates-elected-to-seanad-as-counting-continues-1724478.html
- ↑ https://www.michaelmcdowell.ie/irelands-capacity-to-control-migration-in-a-sustainable-way-is-broken/
- ↑ https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/michael-mcdowell-can-someone-please-tell-me-what-the-covid-plan-is-1.4518172