A shocking 85 TDs and Senators have missed one or more of the 23 Oireachtas Committee meetings since the Dáil went into recess on 8 July.
The shocking discovery was made by Irish broadsheet the RTE News following a review of attendance records at Ireland’s legislative chamber
Fianna Fáil Mayo TD Beverley Flynn topped the list of non-attenders. She missed a grand total of six meetings in the space of just three weeks.
Other Fianna Fáil TDs that missed three meetings include Darragh O'Brien, Thomas Byrne and Niall Blaney, who said that he was focusing more on his constituency work and that the meetings fell on a “bad day” for him.
Labour Senator Dominic Hannigan was another epic non-attender: he missed all four meetings of the committees of which he is a member and defended his actions to the Irish Times by explaining that he had to make a call and decided to focus on other work on the days of the meetings.
A spokesperson for the Houses of the Oireachtas commented that the committees have been extremely active during the Dáil and Seanad recess and added that: 'It is not always possible for every Committee member to attend each meeting for a variety of reasons, such as constituency obligations, party duties and commitments at other forums.'
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