Sir, – The European Movement Ireland’s Accountability Report acts as an Irish-European “report card” for 2012; evaluating the engagement and performance of Irish representatives in Europe and assessing the level of scrutiny and discussion of European issues at an Irish national parliamentary level through the use of statistical indicators (Marian Harkin MEP, May 13th & News Agenda, May 7th).
This report is over 100 pages long and provides a detailed analysis of Irish engagement with the EU Institutions and other European bodies. Significant coverage in the European Parliament chapter is given to explaining the functions of the European Parliament and the role of our elected MEPs. A full and thorough reading of this report reveals Irish engagement in the European Parliament is determined by tracking a variety of legislative and other indicators, including positions held in the parliament, parliamentary committee membership, attendance at plenary sessions, speeches at plenary sessions, parliamentary questions submitted, reports drafted, opinions drafted, attendance at committee and speeches in committee.
The report’s findings are based on statistical information that is both quantifiable and available as a matter of public record.
While it is acknowledged at several points in the report that the statistical information only offers a snapshot of the work undertaken by our MEPs, these statistics remain a valuable tool for affording Irish people an insight into the work conducted by our representatives at a European level.
As an organisation committed to developing the connection between Ireland and Europe, one of our core values is working to increase accountability and transparency at Irish and European levels. We believe this publication serves an important role in this objective and we welcome the opportunity to continue to work with Ms Harkin and all our MEPs to further increase awareness of the work carried out by our elected MEPs. – Yours, etc,
NOELLE O CONNELL,
Executive Director,
European Movement Ireland,
Merrion Square, Dublin 2.