Childers welcomes big increase in Irish media coverage of parliament

Posted by Bronwen Maher on May 28, 2010 at 12:18 PM

Labour MEP for Ireland East Nessa Childers today welcomed the results of a Eurobarometer survey which shows a 22% jump in Irish media coverage of the European Parliament.
 
"Implicit in the increased coverage the Irish media has given to the work of the European Parliament is a recognition that the new powers bestowed on the institution when the Irish people voted to pass the Lisbon Treaty are becoming increasingly significant to the every day lives of the citizens of this country and over 500 million other Europeans.

"This Eurobarometer survey shows that over the past year, the number of Irish people who have recently heard or read something about the Parliament in the Irish media has increased by 22% to 59%. Under the Lisbon Treaty, MEPs now have control over 90% of EU legislation and also must agree to all international treaties of the EU covering issues like climate change and economic agreements with countries like Israel, for example.

“The 12 elected MEPs from the Republic of Ireland now have co-decision powers with the national governments on issues which are important to Irish people like agriculture and justice policy. All of these new areas for the Parliament are now covered more and more by Irish local and national media.

"As a member of one of the most powerful committee in the Parliament dealing with the environment, public health and food safety issues, I am especially glad to see also that the survey found that Irish citizens believe that improving public health and combating climate change are the most important issues for the Parliament to tackle. Since being elected last June, these are the issues I have dedicated most of my attention to.

"The one negative in today's survey finds that less than half of Irish people realise that MEPs do not sit in parliament grouped according to nationality, but in specific groups according to our own political philosophy and beliefs.
 
“Alan Kelly, Proinsias De Rossa and I are aligned with our influential Labour and centre-left colleagues from around Europe, the second largest political grouping in the Parliament. We vote the vast majority of times along these lines. Of course on issues of clear national importance, the system is flexible enough to permit Irish MEPs to come together in the national interest.”

The survey interviewed over 26,000 Europeans including over 1,000 in Ireland. It was conducted in February this year by face-to-face interviews.
 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/parliament/public/staticDisplay.do?language=EN&id=40
 
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/pdf/eurobarometre/20102005/national/EB731%20FS%20Parlemeter%20IE%20(EN).pdf

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