Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As a new member of the committee, I do not know what attendance patterns are like. However, since I became a member I have noted attendance is linked to the meeting's relevance. Similarly, one would expect ministerial attendance at Council meetings would increase because of the economic crisis emanating from Europe. When it comes to the business of MEPs and Ministers in Europe, what is relevant to people at home is what they are actually doing out there rather than attendance. It is not just about attendance or the number of speeches made. It is the content of the speeches that is important. One could be speaking every day on some matters. The point is how relevant are these speeches.

The most striking point about the report is the lack of Irish input at the pre-legislative phase.

We seem to arrive at the debate when it is half over. How can we improve the process and what is the relevance of pan-EU NGOs and interest groups?

The report deals with the attendance rates of Irish MEPs. My colleague in the North, Martina Anderson, MEP, sees herself as an Irish MEP. The report seems to be partitionist in that sense. Does European Movement Ireland take a view on this? Many of the issues arising in the European Parliament are common to Ireland and there is co-operation across the board. Can future reports take this into account?

Can the use of Irish in the European Parliament and Council be measured? Many activists in Ireland fought long and hard to make Irish a working language but it is not yet treated equally. The accountability report would offer a useful vehicle for measuring progress.

Is it too early to draw conclusions about the new way of dealing with EU scrutiny in the Oireachtas? The lack of public debate suggests that we are still a long distance from proper democratic scrutiny. One of the movement's aims is to encourage engagement with European issues but the EU has to be shown to be relevant to people's lives. We are all at fault in this regard but while attendance is a guide to performance, it does not fully reflect levels of involvement.