Ms Noelle O'Connell:

I thank the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs for the opportunity to present to it. I have had the pleasure of appearing before it a number of times previously and am pleased to be invited to discuss EMI's fourth accountability report, which tracked the 2013 calendar period.

As the Chairman pointed out, EMI is Ireland's longest established not-for-profit, voluntary membership-based organisation dealing with Irish-European affairs, having been founded in 1954. We celebrated our 60th birthday this year. For more than 60 years, we have strived to provide a robust, fair and reasoned voice on European matters in Ireland through increasing awareness and understanding of European issues. In keeping with our founding aims, we are committed to increasing engagement by Irish people with the EU and the promotion of transparency and accountability at Irish and European levels.

Our accountability campaign is one of our organisation's flagship advocacy programmes. Through it, we aim to measure Ireland's engagement with Europe at a number of levels, offering a comparison between Ireland's performance with that of our European counterparts and providing context in which to base the findings and evaluate the results. It is a report card on how our Government, national politicians and MEPs engage in EU affairs. It is an evolving, living project that is continually updated, as we have incorporated feedback and input from readers of the report on an ongoing basis since its inception in 2010.

Throughout 2013 we tracked 18 key indicators in four areas to measure accurately Irish engagement with the EU. Building on the previous three editions of the report, this year we utilised our growing database to expand by providing a comparative analysis of Ireland's performance in a European context over the course of four consecutive years. Time constraints today prevent me from going through in detail every finding in the 70 page report, but we will send members an updated report in due course following an internal reclassification of some of the figures.

As part of our methodology a key aspect of these 18 indicators, about which I will speak in greater detail, is that they have a statistically verifiable character. To add a caveat to the interpretation of such data, and in recognising our accountability report is not without its limitations, I will recall the words of Albert Einstein, "not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts". Through the accountability report we measure work which is on the record and publicly available, and which can be statistically verified and tracked in as timely a manner as possible. That said, much work done is not quantifiable and therefore cannot be included in our analysis, which we recognise throughout the report. In addition, as I am sure I do not have to remind distinguished members of the committee, our accountability report took place against the backdrop of an incredibly busy and productive 2013, as Ireland held the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU for the seventh time as well as 2013 being designated European year of citizens. As the report relies solely on data in the public domain, applying this health warning is a useful precaution in interpreting parliamentary and institutional statistics of the type under review, but it is not a reason to refrain from observing and commenting on the available data.

Ireland's engagement with the EU is deep, complex and multifaceted. European Movement Ireland believes strongly that our accountability work, which continues to evolve over the years, is important in shedding light on and working to explain Irish engagement at EU level. We look forward next year to presenting a five-year benchmarking fact on our accountability report findings over the five years we have tracked and measured this engagement since 2010.

For the purpose of my presentation this afternoon, our 2013 report focuses on the following four pillars which form the key chapters of the report: pre-legislative input, where we look at European commission consultations; the European Parliament; the Oireachtas; and the European Council and councils of the EU.

A total of 99 Commission consultations were initiated by the various Directorates General of the Commission, which had a closing date for submission during the 2013 calendar year. European Movement Ireland tracked all 99 and analysed the geographical origin of the submissions to establish the rate and number of Irish submissions and evaluate Irish input at the pre-legislative stage of EU policy formation. Of the 99 Commission consultations, 60 were suitable for evaluation and inclusion in the report. This is due to the fact only 60 of the 99 consultations provided information regarding the geographical origin of submissions and thus we were in a position to analyse and establish the rate of Irish submissions. In the 60 consultations we reviewed for our accountability report, the percentage of the total submissions originating in Ireland during 2013 ranged from 0% to 6.25% with an average of 1.1%. This average of 1.1% represents a decrease of 0.3% from the 2012 average of 1.4%. I apologise for the many statistics I will give to committee members this afternoon.

European Movement Ireland recommends a consistent methodology be employed throughout all Commission Directorates General for the purposes of tracking and classifying these consultation submissions and their geographical origin.

We believe this would have a significant impact on the accountability and transparency of the Commission consultation system. In fact, more accessible and thorough knowledge of the origins of these submissions might also help to increase the number of submissions by creating awareness among member states regarding their national contribution levels. With Commission consultations ranging from state aids to reforming the structure of the EU banking sector to a 2030 framework Green Paper on climate and energy policies, from an Irish perspective there is a clear opportunity to have a stronger input at this stage of the European legislative procedure. EM Ireland looks forward to playing a leading role in facilitating this enhanced engagement.
Turning to the European Parliament, complete attendance records for all MEPs is available from documentation published on the website of the European Parliament, whose records we use to measure the attendance of Irish MEPs at European Parliament plenary sessions. The individual websites of Irish MEPs and votewatch.euwere also consulted for, first, information regarding MEP roles within their political groupings and within the parliament; second, attendance at European Parliament plenary sessions; third, parliamentary questions asked; and, fourth, speeches made. However, for calculation purposes, we relied solely on information that was made public by the European Parliament.
We found that average Irish MEP attendance at plenary sessions of the European Parliament during 2013 was 93%, which represents an increase of 10% on the 2012 attendance rate of 83%. Indeed, it is the highest since we began tracking this. Irish MEPs asked a total of 384 parliamentary questions in 2013, which is a 15.6% reduction from the 455 questions raised in 2012. During 2013, Irish MEPs made a total of 890 speeches in plenary sessions of the European Parliament, an increase of 143.8% compared to the 2012 figure of 365. During 2013 there was Irish representation on 14 of the European Parliament's 20 standing committees and on the parliament's special committee. Average Irish MEP attendance at the meetings of their designated committees in 2013 was 42%, a drop from the 2012 figure of 76%.
With regard to Oireachtas engagement, throughout 2013 European Movement Ireland attended every public meeting, not private, of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. Attendance at these meetings was tracked by the EM Ireland staff member in attendance, who also drafted a summary report of the committee's discussion for circulation. Official committee reports available from the Oireachtas website were also reviewed. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs met 35 times in public during 2013, with the average attendance rate of committee members at 56%. This represents a decrease of 8% from the 2012 attendance rate of 64%. Obviously, committee attendance is calculated on a composite average basis, which tends to skew the figures somewhat in terms of some members' attendance at this committee. I thank and pay tribute to the members for attending this meeting today.
According to the programme for Government, Ministers are obliged to appear before their respective committees or before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on European Union Affairs prior to travelling to Brussels for meetings of the Council of the EU, where decisions are made. For the 2013 accountability report, we examined the minutes of all Oireachtas committee meetings that took place in 2013 to establish whether and when pre and post-Council briefings took place. Pre or post-Council briefings took place in respect of eight of the ten General Affairs Council, GAC, meetings that took place in 2013, which represents a total of 80% and an increase of 16% on the 2012 rate of 64%. Of the 71 Council meetings that took place during 2013, some 33 or 46% had pre or post-Council briefings before the relevant Oireachtas committee.

Attendance by Irish representatives and by representatives of other EU member states at 2013 meetings of the European Council and the various formations of the Council of the European Union, was tracked using the official attendance lists of each of these Council meetings. These lists are made available as part of the Council press release and are published online following the conclusion of these meetings. This information is also regularly released on the website of the Council of the European Union.

The Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, attended all the European Council meetings which took place throughout 2013 and this 100% attendance rate has been consistent since the first European Movement Ireland accountability report in 2010. The average Irish ministerial attendance rate at 2013 meetings of the Council of the European Union was 99% which is an increase of 2% on 2012, where the Irish ministerial attendance was 97%. Last year is the highest Irish ministerial attendance rate since European Movement Ireland began tracking this engagement in its inaugural 2010 accountability report. Ireland ranked joint first alongside Greece and Lithuania in terms of average ministerial attendance at meetings of the EU Council in 2013. While we cannot speculate too deeply into the reasons behind some of the comparative shifts in the indicators, it is worth noting that in the first half of 2013, as I mentioned previously, Ireland held the rotating Presidency of the EU Council, which may have played a part in Ireland having overall best attendance record at meetings of the European Council and Councils of the EU throughout 3013, alongside our fellow Presidency partners of Greece and Lithuania.

One of the principal aims of European Movement Ireland is to facilitate debate and to provide information on the Irish EU relationship. This report does this by analysing the level of transparency and accountability at both national and European level so that Irish citizens have an opportunity to see how we are being represented in Europe by our elected officials.

As we publish this report during 2014 it would be remiss of me not to mention briefly the recent May 2014 European Parliament elections. As the distinguished members of this committee will no doubt be aware, voter turnout in those European Parliament elections was 52.4%, down from 58.6% in 2009. This means that for whatever reason approximately 1.5 million voters here did not give a mandate to our elected representatives in Europe. This is not a surprise but we should be worried about it. Membership of the European Union, while not without its faults, has generally been positive for Ireland. Social progress such as the ending of the marriage bar and the decriminalisation of homosexuality, along with far-reaching protections for consumers and the right for us as EU citizens to travel, study, live and work freely in other member states, can sometimes pale in recollection.

European Movement Ireland believes that our society needs a broad and dynamic discussion about our place in the European Union, one which recognises that we can and should be the authors of our own destiny in Europe. European Movement Ireland's accountability report, which we are very pleased to present before this committee, offers a way of scrutinising some of the dimensions of this crucial relationship, now and in the future.

I thank the Chairman and members for inviting us to present our 2013 report. We look forward to dealing with comments and questions from members of the committee.