MEPs miss one in five sessions of parliament

IRISH MEPs miss one out of every five days of the European Parliament and have only attended an average of 33 days of parliamentary sessions so far this year.

Mon, 25 Aug, 2008 - 01:00

Records from the parliament show Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, who headed the no campaign in the Lisbon treaty referendum, has the lowest attendance record among the Irish representation.

The Dublin MEP was present for an average of just three out of five days in the past year, ranking her among the lowest of all 767 MEPs from 27 countries.

The overall Irish attendance record was 85%, placing us in the top 10 of all member states.

Fianna Fáil’s Sean O’Neachtain, who represents the North West constituency, and Independent Kathy Sinnot, who represents the South, have almost a full attendance record of 98%.

Labour’s Proinsias De Rossa has the second-lowest attendance record of the Irish delegation, at 76%, but the highest speaking records, having addressed the parliament on 172 occasions since September 2007.

This compares with Fine Gael’s Jim Higgins, who spoke 46 times in parliament and Ms McDonald, who took to the floor 62 times in the parliamentary year.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have been almost equal on attendance and speaking time but Fianna Fáil MEPs have been more active in tabling motions for resolution.

Irish MEPs get the same salary as a member of the Dáil, which ranges from €95,363 to €101,445 depending on length of service. However the parliament sits about 30% fewer days than the Dáil.

MEPs are paid an allowance of €287 for every day they attend parliament. This allowance was subject to controversy when MEPs were recently exposed for the practice of signing the attendance sheet early in the morning and leaving without taking part in plenary sessions.

MEPs are also entitled to an annual allowance of about €200,000 to hire staff for their offices in Brussels and Ireland. An internal inquiry completed last February found widespread abuse of this allowance by MEPs who were using it to make payments to family members or fictional staff members.

This report has not been published, so it is unknown what MEPs were involved.

Activity of Irish MEPs since September 2007

Dublin Constituency:

1. Mary Lou McDonald:

Attendance: 61%

Speeches: 62

Reports: 17

2. Eoin Ryan:

Attendance: 76%

Speeches: 74

Reports: 72

3. Gay Mitchell: