EM Ireland Accountability Report 2011

Executive Summary
This is the second year of European Movement Irelands Accountability Report, the goal of which is to track Irelands engagement with the EU through a series of statistical indicators. These indicators range from measuring Irish input at the pre-legislative stage to the stage of final decision-making at the Council of the European Union. As this is the second Accountability report published by EM Ireland, a comparative element between the data recorded in 2010 and that recorded in 2011 is possible and will therefore be offered where relevant. It is crucial to point out at this stage that although the Accountability Report 2011 endeavours to track Irelands engagement with the EU throughout the calendar year (i.e. 01 January 2011 31 December 2011), the General Election that took place in Ireland on 25 February 2011 resulted in a change of administration and some subsequent structural changes. Therefore, for the purposes of a number of the indicators in this report, tracking only begins after the 31st Dil is in session i.e. 9 March 2011. This is highlighted where relevant in each of the respective chapters. Below you will find details of the methodology behind the report and a summary of the key findings of the Accountability Report 2011. The full report is available to download from the EM Ireland site www.europeanmovement.ie.

Methodology
Data integrity was of central importance in the compilation of this report and much time was dedicated to ensuring that tracking the information took place using only mathematical systems; thereby decreasing any opportunity for subjectivity. Through consultation with internal steering groups and an external group of experts, EM Ireland ensured that a high standard system of data collection was created and maintained. A bespoke tracking spreadsheet was created and deemed most suitable for the purposes of recording the data for this report. European Movement Ireland consulted a range of sources in the compilation of this report, including: The website of the European Parliament (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/) VoteWatch.eu (www.votewatch.eu) The websites of Irish MEPs The official attendance lists of EU level meetings Official EU press releases The website of the Council of the European Unions website (www.consilium.europa.eu) Official Oireachtas Committee reports from the European Union Affairs Committee and the Oireachtas website (www.oireachtas.ie)

Key Findings
Chapter 1 Commission Consultations 23 Commissions consultations were reviewed for this report. The percentage of the total submissions to these 23 Consultations that originated in Ireland ranges from 0% to 5%; with an average of 0.9 %. This represents a decrease of 0.7% from the 2010 average of 1.6% From an Irish perspective, there is a clear opportunity for civil society/NGO and public opinion to have a stronger input into this stage of the European legislative procedure and EM Ireland looks forward to playing a leading role in facilitating this enhanced engagement Chapter 2 European Parliament Average Irish MEP attendance at plenary sessions stands at 85% for 2011. This is a decrease of 1% from 2010 Irish MEPs asked 683 Parliamentary Questions in 2011. This is a drop from nearly 1,000 Parliamentary Questions during 2010 Irish MEPs made a total of 727 speeches in the European Parliament in 2011. This is an increase of approximately 100 speeches from 2010 There is Irish MEP representation on 14 of the 20 standing committees of the European Parliament During 2011, 5 reports were drawn up by an Irish MEP acting as Rapporteur Irish MEPs are represented on 15 out of 41 Parliamentary Delegations Chapter 3 European Council and Councils of the EU Ireland has an overall ministerial attendance rate at the meetings of the Council of the European Union of 86% with either a lead Minister or Junior Minister attending 61 out of a total of 71 meetings that took place once the 31st Dil was in session in 2011. This is an increase of 9% from the data recorded from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010 Ireland ranks 2nd in terms of European ministerial attendance at Council Eight out of ten Council configurations have an Irish ministerial attendance rate of 80% or higher Ireland outperforms both France (79%) and Germany (61%) in terms of average attendance In comparing Ireland to the other EU Countries who are also in EU-IMF programmes, it can be seen that Ireland has the highest average ministerial attendance rate with 86%; Greece has an average ministerial attendance rate of 63% and Portugals rate stands at 55% Chapter 4 Oireachtas Engagement The Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs met a total of 17 times between 9 March 2011 and 31 December 2011 under the 31st Dil The attendance record of members of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs under the 31st Dil from 9 March 2011-31 December 2011 was 71% Pre-Council briefings took place in relation to 3 out of the 11 General Affairs Meetings that took place between 9 March 2011 and 31 December 2011. This represents a percentage total of 27%