Allister opposes increase in Republic's seats in Europe
01 October 2007
Statement by Jim Allister MEP:
Jim Allister MEP has attacked a proposal that the Republic of Ireland should have an increase of MEPs from 13 to 15.
The Constitutional Affairs Committee of the parliament is presently considering parliamentary representation for each member state in preparation for the next EP election in June 2009. Under anticipated Treaty changes the total number of members must drop to 750. By natural mathematical formula the Republic’s representation should drop from 13 to 12, while the UK would drop from 78 to 72, with Northern Ireland retaining 3 members. Yet, a campaign, in defiance of the mathematics, is being mounted by one of the Republic’s MEPs, Kathy Sinnott, to increase their quota to 15 and reduce the UK to 61.
Jim Allister today told the Constitutional Affairs Committee that such would utterly distort the balance of representation from the British Isles to the gross advantage of the Republic. With a population of 1.7M, each MEP in Northern Ireland would represent over 600,000 citizens, but there would be 1 MEP for every 300,000 in the Republic. Such is not on, said Mr Allister. Thus he supports the reduction in the Republic’s quota to 12, or less, which still gives them disproportionate representation, as normally happens with smaller member states.
Mr Allister confirmed that he was hopeful that if the Republic’s loses a seat then Sinn Fein will lose its Dublin representative, Mary Lou McDonald. “Such”, said Mr Allister, “would be in the interests of us all in these British Isles.”
