Website listing MEPs’ attendance records sparks row

A WEBSITE that shows exactly how MEPs vote and how often they attend parliament sessions was launched yesterday, and immediately led to a row between Irish politicians, and changes to the site.

The site, www.votewatch.eu, gives the attendance record of MEPs at the 299 plenary sessions the parliament met to vote on legislation and reports over the past five years.

The first version said that Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald had one of the worst attendance records attending 171 sessions or 57% of the total, equivalent to three of the five years. Just 13 other MEPs had a worse record, it claimed. The figures were quickly removed when Sinn Féin objected, saying she attended 75% of the sessions and stating she was on maternity leave in 2006 when her second child was born.