Kathy Sinnott, independent Member of European Parliament (MEP) and founder of the Hope project, has two types of working day
I love my work as an MEP. In Europe, there are so many opportunities to serve. I suppose it's the mother in me but I gauge everything by whether the activity or meeting will make life better for someone.
In parliament, I spend a lot of time on people issues such as health and social services. Right now I'm involved in drafting the proposed mental health strategy and a report on advanced medical therapies.
I am vice-president of inter-groups on disability, family and child protection and bioethics. With the disability inter-group we educate MEPs about the challenges people with disabilities face while at the same time vetting legislation to ensure it is inclusive.
Family and child protection is exactly what it says on the tin. Keeping children safe and ensuring that the EU does everything it can to promote and protect the family as the nucleus of any society.
The bioethics inter-group is concerned with promoting the essential dignity of the person.
Science has taken huge leaps. Cloning, embryo destructive stem cell research, chimeras (animal human hybrids) and germ line therapies (genetically modified humans) are being explored. There are many wonderful new biotechnologies that will benefit us all, but these do not include the aforementioned, which are a real threat to human dignity.
I have two main types of working day - an Irish day and a Brussels one. They both start with a prayer: "Help bring some good out of today."
In Ireland, I wake early and the first thing I do in the morning is write. There is always a column to write and usually a queue of other pieces. I then dress and help my son, Jamie, who is disabled.
He used to need complete help with his bathing, feeding and dressing. Now with his education he can co-operate and even has begun to help himself.
Once Jamie starts school I am off to some part of the constituency. I spend a lot of my Irish workdays walking streets or fields and listening. I am chair of the Hope project (national disability support) and always have a backlog of calls to make, thank God for the cordless phone that lets me do this while cooking.
My Belgium day starts at about 6.30am and I am at my desk before 8am. The work is a blend of the standard committee and plenary work of an MEP, constituent concerns and my special interest projects. Right now I am perusing an ever-elusive disability Directive.
When I'm not working, all of my other time is given to my nine children. They are older now and often help out with my work but for me the perfect end to any day is to come home, cook up a dinner and sit around the table with my kids eating, doing homework or just chatting.
(In conversation with Ali Bracken)