The Council of Europe offers members an insight into developments beyond the EU, writes Denis Staunton, European Correspondent.
The suspension of Ireland's voting rights at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has cast a rare spotlight on an institution that usually lives in the shadow of its Strasbourg neighbour, the European Parliament.
Established in 1949, the Council of Europe is entirely independent of the European Union and includes among its 45 member-states countries from all over the continent.
Its Parliamentary Assembly, which is composed of representatives from national parliaments in the member-states, meets four times a year. This week's session has seen debates on the parliamentary elections in Russia and Serbia, on political prisoners in Azerbaijan and on the political situation in Cyprus.
A debate on euthanasia that was due to be held today has been postponed until April's session, by which time Ireland's delegation will have its voting rights restored - as long as it includes a woman.
The decision to increase the representation of women in national delegations at the Parliamentary Assembly came last September.
The assembly agreed that each delegation should aim to ensure that at least 30 per cent of its members are women or, failing that, should ensure that the balance of the sexes reflects that of their national parliament. At the very least, at least one member of each delegation should be a woman. Despite a reminder last November, Ireland re-nominated an all-male delegation last week, to the annoyance of Ms Manuela Aguiar, the Portuguese vice-chairperson of the Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. When the assembly convened this week, Ms Aguiar challenged the credentials of the Irish and Maltese delegations.
Both delegations assured the assembly that they would recruit at least one woman member each as soon as possible but their voting rights remain suspended until they fulfil that promise.
Ireland's delegates are nominated by the Oireachtas whips, so that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the "technical group" of independents and small parties are represented. The whips are expected to meet during the next few weeks to agree on who should give up his seat to a woman delegate.
Although members of the Parliamentary Assembly do not receive a salary, some enjoy the opportunity to travel to unfamiliar cities for committee meetings. Others relish the insight the Council of Europe offers into developments in Europe beyond the EU.
The Parliamentary Assembly has seen its numbers swell since the fall of communism in the early 1990s and is regarded by many eastern European states as a valuable forum for interaction with parliamentarians from the EU.