De Burca on new parliamentary attendence website

By Amy Bracken

A new website has shown that the European Green Party has the best attendance in the European Parliament, however it emerged yesterday that the information contained regarding Sinn Féin MEP for Dublin, Mary Lou McDonald, was incorrect.

The website, www.votewatch.eu, which tracks attendance and voting behaviour of parliamentary members has been greatly welcomed by Dublin Green Party candidate Senator Deirdre De Burca.

"The website demonstrates that Green MEPs offer the best value for votes," she said. "Not only do Green MEPs attend the Parliament's plenary sessions and vote most frequently, they also have the most coherent voting record across all policy areas.”

The website shows that Irish MEPs belonging to the EPP-ED group have a loyalty record of over 92% to the European group. The centre-right political group is the largest in the European Parliament.

When compared, the figures show that little difference exists between the European political parties in terms of attendance at plenary sessions. The Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance top the chart, having attended 87.39% of sessions. The group with the lowest attendance is the Independence / Democracy Group, with an overall attendance rate of 82.46% over the past five years.

The new website also shows attendance and voting statistics for individual MEPs. However, Sinn Fein Deputy-Leader and MEP Mary Lou McDonald’s plenary session attendance was initially not listed, because (as stated on the website) she had “documented reasons” for not attending all plenary sessions. This was later changed.

On Monday a spokesperson for the Green Party said: "Green Party Mary Lou MacDonald is by far the poorest attending Irish MEP, and is also one of the worst in Europe. Her attendance record of 57.19% – making it for only 171 out of the Parliament's 299 plenary sitting days – ranks her number 765th out of the Parliament's 778 members.”

These reports echo comments made by Fianna Fáil member and Dublin MEP Eoin Ryan, who recently claimed that Ms McDonald was the “worst attender” sic in the Parliament. Mr Ryan is recorded to have attended over 83% of plenary sessions.

However, it emerged on Tuesday on the Newstalk radio station that the figures were in fact incorrect and Ms McDonald received an apology on air from Simon Hix, the conductor of the report. The figures given on Wednesday were then changed, stating that Ms McDonald attended 82% of parliamentary sessions. Mr Ryan’s attendance figure still stands.

A spokesperson for Ms McDonald today announced that attendance records are only available on request from the MEP from the parliament. She also stated that Ms McDonald has frequently tried unsuccessfully to obtain such figures, which, according to the source, she would have no problem publishing.

Despite this, Senator De Búrca remains optimistic about the impact the website will have on the Dublin electorate: "What voters can take from this website, as they make up their minds about to endorse on 5 June, is that Green MEPs are the hardest working in Europe. The 43 MEPs that belong to the Greens-EFA Group have attended 87.39% of important votes over the last five years – well above average," she said.

"In the days ahead I will be looking more closely at how Dublin's four MEPs have voted on important pieces of legislation over the last five years. From a green perspective it is not encouraging. Come election time I am confident that Dubliners will have no doubts that giving their support to a Green MEP candidate offers the best return for their vote."