MEPS defend low rate of attendance

IRISH MEPs were on the defensive yesterday after it emerged that they had some of the lowest attendance rates of any members of the European Parliament.

Analysis of the sign-in sheets at the parliament in Strasbourg showed Ireland’s 13 MEPs had an attendance rate of 88%, the sixth lowest of the 25 member states.

Marian Harkin, Independent MEP for Connacht/ Ulster, turned up least regularly of the Irish members, with an attendance rate of 74%, but her constituency colleague, Fianna Fáil MEP Seán Ó Neachtain, had the highest record at 95%.

Ms Harkin, who is also a Dáil deputy, said the sign-in sheet statistics did not reflect how much work a member of the European Parliament did.

“All that’s required is to walk down the corridor, go into the parliament, sign your name,” she said.

“You don’t have to sit down, you don’t have to say a word, you don’t have to do anything, and you can just walk out again.

“So this isn’t really about people’s workrate or anything like that, it doesn’t affect what they do, or their impact on legislation.

“All this tells us is somebody spent 30 seconds walking into the parliament and putting their name down on the sheet of paper,” she added.

But Mr Ó Neachtain said it was important to attend as much as possible.

“I think that it’s important that one attends as regularly as possible because that’s where the electorate ordained us to go when they voted for us,” he told Today FM.

Controversy over attendance records has erupted several times in recent years. Several MEPs have been filmed turning up to sign the register so as to receive the daily allowance for attending, only to leave immediately.

This was just one loophole in a lucrative system of salary and expenses of which some MEPs took full advantage to boost their incomes considerably.

Ireland’s Pat Cox, the former president of the parliament, once memorably described the system as “a gravy train and a travelling circus”.

Similarly, a Dutch MEP, Kathalijne Buitenweg, told the BBC “the electorate rightly feels that parliamentarians are enriching themselves. Some people are doing everything to keep the gravy train going”.

Earlier this year, the parliament finally agreed to reform its salary and expenses system.

Under the new system, each MEP will be paid €84,000 a year, or €7,000 a month.

In addition, they will keep their €268 daily allowance, which is meant to cover food and accommodation on sitting days.

They will also qualify for monthly allowances of €14,865 and €3,785 for staff and office costs respectively.