Yes, the European Parliament does matter and increasingly so, writes outgoing MEP Mary Banotti who argues that the 'democratic deficit' is a myth.
Twenty years ago on June 19th, following a huge and utterly exhausting campaign, I woke up on a Monday morning, turned over in bed and asked: "My God, I am a member of the European Parliament. What on Earth do I do now?"
No answer came.
To my intense relief, about a week later a telegram arrived calling me to Brussels. It is embarrassing now to admit how little I knew about the mechanics and the structures of the European Parliament.
What I did know was how vital the existence of the then Common Market was in bringing countries together, and strengthening and growing the political and human relationships between the traditional enemies, particularly France and Germany.
I still believe that it is the great political achievement of the 20th century.
The first time I met my colleagues in Brussels I spoke about the need to keep our work human, simple and relevant, and it has been a process along those lines which has kept me most totally engaged in my work of the past 20 years. People still ask daily: what is the relevance of the parliament to their daily lives? They also say they don't understand what is going on there, and, above all, there is still a gap in the understanding of how hugely relevant the parliament actually is.
My first committee was Environment and Consumer Protection. In Ireland in 1984 we had the lowest level of environmental awareness among the EU states. We neither knew nor cared about our environment - probably because we were a non-industrial island and nobody thought it mattered.
We didn't have large rivers like the Rhine inexorably dragging pollution from one country to the next. Our country, apart from our major cities, had clean air and we were not importing heavy air pollution across borders.
There was very high unemployment. Reading my maiden speech from July 1984, which emphasised the massive problem of unemployment and economic stagnation which characterised our country at the time, is like looking into another world.
The contribution of Ireland to environmental issues was largely directed towards making sure that Brussels brought no legislation that was likely to end the huge agricultural funding which was pouring into one section of our economy. More than half of Irish MEPs were serving on the Agriculture Committee, thus further emphasising the - in my opinion - overemphasis on the CAP to the detriment of our cities and, increasingly, the majority of our citizens.
In the past 20 years I have seen the parliament mature and grow. I have been privileged to meet many of the great heroes in the construction of the new Europe while serving in the European Parliament - Arturo Spinelli, a great Italian statesman, Jacques Delors, a quiet, brilliant strategist, a dying François Mitterrand speaking for nearly an hour about the Europe he had helped to build with Helmut Kohl, who never failed to touch our hearts when he spoke of the passionate commitment he had to the reconstruction of Europe and, particularly, to the relationship between France and Germany.
Many of my colleagues in the early days had suffered greatly during the second World War. Many remembered starvation and terror and had focused their reaction to these horrors by working politically to ensure that they never happened again.
In later sessions of the parliament, our working methods were assessed and tightened up, and the treaties were amended to facilitate and grant more power to the parliament.
We set out, between 1984 and 1992, to create the internal market. What did this mean?
Lots of discussions about food law and food safety, not to cause problems to producers but rather to ensure that our goods could wend their merry way from Mitchelstown to Munich fulfilling common criteria, thus ensuring that there would be no delaying tactics at borders as one country tried to protect its interests to the detriment of the internal market.
The variety of issues dealt with in the parliament committees is staggering. Every MEP is a member of at least one parliamentary committee - covering issues such as environment, animal welfare, citizens' rights, immigration and asylum, transport, consumer protection and education.
The daily work of an MEP will include meetings with groups, businesses and concerned citizens, all of whom are feeding into the democratic process. The so-called "democratic deficit" is, in my opinion, a total myth. All Irish MEPs employ full-time staff who are dealing with a huge variety of issues. Some of us have special roles. For myself they include working on issues relating to child protection and abducted children.
In that role the successive presidents of the parliament have supported me, recognising that the world in which we all live has changed significantly and marriages and relationships are now crossing borders, with the joys and the problems that this inevitably brings.
The Petitions Committee in the European Parliament is open to every citizen who feels aggrieved about infringement of European law and basic human rights. Hundreds of petitions from Ireland have been received and responded to.
All the campaigning environmental groups inevitably petition the parliament where concerns exist about projects funded from Europe which may cause environmental problems.
Taxi-drivers, those concerned about water quality (a most important European environmental issue) and campaigning health groups lobbying to have research funds for the groups they represent have regularly beaten a path to our door.
As soon as the new parliament reconvenes, the new European Commission candidates will be required to attend hearings of the committees relating to their future roles.
So the parliament plays a hugely significant role in our relationship with the European institutions. The relatively small number of Irish MEPs have, of necessity, covered many more roles than some of their colleagues from the bigger countries.
There are no unknown Irish MEPs in the parliament - because, as we are small, we have to be twice as good.
Make sure you send the best men and women in your constituency to represent you. Thank you to all who voted for me and gave me the great privilege of having a ringside seat on the great European adventure for the past 20 years.