78 corrections to votes by Irish MEPs

MEPs from Ireland have recorded the joint fifth highest level of correcting voting errors in the European Parliament.

A survey shows that Ireland’s representatives in the parliament in Strasbourg and Brussels made a total of 78 corrections to their voting record over a 16-month period.

According to statistics compiled by a Swedish EU news website, Europaportalen, nine of Ireland’s 11 MEPs sought to correct their votes between July 16, 2014 and October 27, 2015.

Only Fine Gael’s MEP for Dublin, Brian Hayes and Independent South MEP, Brian Crowley, did not seek to change their voting record. Mr Crowley has yet to vote in the European Parliaments since being elected in May 2014 due to ill health.

Ireland’s representatives made an average of 7.1 corrections per MEP — in joint fifth place with Spain, behind MEPs from France, Sweden, Greece and Portugal.

Among Irish MEPs Sinn Féin’s South MEP, Liadh Ní Riada, had the highest number of corrections with 17, followed by Fine Gael’s Midlands-North West representative, Mairead McGuinness, her constituency colleague, Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy, and Independent Dublin MEP, Nessa Childers, who each made 13 corrections to their voting record.

Lynn Boylan, the Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin was the only other Irish MEP to have an above-average correction rate.

The rules of the European Parliament allow members to ‘correct’ any errors they have made in roll-call votes. Voting session in the European Parliament are regarded by many MEPs as long and complex.

MEPs may point out a correction to a vote for up to two weeks after casting the vote. However, the correction does not change the final result of the vote.

“It is a political declaration that can be used to explain a vote or clarify a complicated situation,” said one EU source.

MEPs are supposed to be provided with a list of votes by their group or parliamentary assistants.

‘Errors’ are used by some MEPs to explain a difficult situation to their electorate, for example in circumstances where they vote in accordance with their party line but against their conscience.

Seán Kelly, the Fine Gael South MEP, said there were several reasons why corrections were made to voting records, adding the overall level was relatively low.

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