MEP (Labour) for Dublin since 1994; Vice-President, Group of European Socialists party, Vice-President, Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
This Parliament's contribution? Employment. It was Parliament which convinced the Council to take it on as a priority
Own proudest achievement? I'm proud of my own position as vice-president in terms of the size of groups . . . and obviously I've had access at top level to setting the whole agenda for Parliament
Frustration? The communication gap - that people don't know the difference between the Commission, the Parliament and the Council. Poor reportage and the impression that we're all on the gravy train
Absences from sessions: 69
Motions for resolution: 17
Reports: One (plus two contributions)
Questions: 45
Debates: 97
Teacher's note: Hard-working, enthusiastic, known for energetic issuing of press releases. Holds vice-presidency of Socialist group by virtue of being the group's sole Irish member. As such, could have made greater impact
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png)