Irish MEP 'Abuses Allowances': German TV

A German TV current affairs programme has featured a prominent Irish MEP during a exposé of attendance allowance abuses at the European Parliament.

German TV channel RTL accused MEPs of turning up to the European parliamentary buildings in the morning to sign for their substantial daily allowances before flying home. The footage shows a host of parliamentarians arriving in the morning towing a fleet of suitcases. Many of whom flee from the cameras.

Anti-Lisbon MEP Kathy Sinnott spoke to the news crew insisting she had “worked for seven hours already, up to seven o’clock”.

Ms Sinnott added she had been happy to talk to the reporter, but became tired when he kept being "abusive".

"I spoke to him for six or seven minutes, answered all his questions. When he finally wore me down, I am finally staring at him exhausted . . . and he only put on [screened] that bit. It's very unfair."

Ms Sinnott said the fact that she had been working all night could be proved by the 97 emails she had sent out in the early hours after attending a debate on human rights in Belarus the afternoon before. She said she was "probably the hardest working" MEP in the parliament. "I am on eight committees, and most others are only on two."

However, the report shows a large number of MEPs running from the cameras after arriving with their luggage to sign the attendance register. The German reporter is finally escorted from the building by an EU press officer, despite claiming to have full authorisation to film there.

A report by BBC newsnight exposed MEP’s can earn up to €20,000 per month tax free by claiming all their entitlements, more than any European priminister.

(DW)