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.

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.