A local TD has been revealed as one of the most frequent voters on Dáil motions. In a review of all Deputies' voting patterns over the past year, the Sunday Independent highlighted Fianna Fáil's Brendan Smith, as one of the TDs with the best voting records.
The Dáil has just broken up for the summer recess. Between now and last year's recess, TDs had the opportunity to vote 201 times. The elected representative with the worst voting record is the Green Party's Neasa Hourigan with only 33 votes. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald voted just 80 times in the past year. According to the newspaper, Deputy Hourigan said she missed voting on so many occasions because she was suspended from the Green Party and because of government vote pairing arrangements. Mary Lou McDonald had time off last year for "serious surgery".
At present, Brendan Smith is one of the longest-serving TDs in the country. The seasoned politician has served as Minister for Justice and Minister for Agriculture among other portfolios. He told Northern Sound he takes his parliamentary work "seriously" and says TDs can be excused for not voting some of the time: "Well, it;s a privlige to repr4esent the people of Cavan-Monaghan in Dáil Éireann," Deputy Smith told Northern Sound, "I take my work very seriously. I attend to my parliamentary duties and I'm glad to record one of the highest figures in voting record but, of course, people also miss votes due to very good reasons in that they're elsewhere carrying pout parliamentary duties as well."
