It varies a great deal over time and is affected by important policy changes such as the creation of the euro and EU enlargement. The EU does have a vital impact on all our lives but it has not turned the Dáil into a rubberstamping outpost. A great many of our laws are still of our own making, good and bad.

The EU can only draft and influence laws in areas where the member states have agreed to share decision making. Agriculture, trade, consumer protection, and the environment are very important in this regard.

Across the bloc, enormous changes have flowed from EU decisions. On balance, public opinion in Ireland views EU membership as overwhelmingly positive. 

Bizarrely, this is often not evident during European Parliament elections. Several of the election debates over the last few weeks have seen an array of candidates blithely ignoring the benefits of Irish EU membership and sometimes decrying the EU as some kind of malevolent overlord imposing itself on the misfortunate peoples of Europe. 

Some candidates cannot even answer why they want to become MEPs and falsely believe that Ireland can, and does, have little influence in the EU.

Irish MEPs have been influential in important EU policy initiatives. Among the current group of MEPs, Seán Kelly was a prominent advocate for the abolition of mobile phone roaming charges. 

Ciarán Cuffe has been leading the way on a significant consumer law which will improve the quality of goods such as dishwashers, showers, and other appliances, by requiring manufacturers to meet higher standards and insisting that parts are available to repair those goods.

Luke Ming Flanagan has been very eloquent in campaign debates on his work on the agriculture committee. 

EU laws have Irish input and sometimes that input is decisive but there is reason to believe that Irish influence could be stronger. 

The Irish MEP delegation was ranked below average in a 2024 report by EU Matrix. The same report placed just one MEP, Fine Gael’s Frances Fitzgerald, in the top 100 most influential MEPs. Vote Watch is another group that previously engaged in similar evaluations and also ranked Ireland unfavourably.

Some of the problem arises because of the types of Irish MEPs that get elected. There tends to be a high turnover of MEPs, with people serving in Brussels for just one or two terms. For many MEPs, it is a stepping stone to election to the Dáil. Influence in Brussels is built up over time and one-term MEPs are at a disadvantage. 

Ireland also elects a large number of independents. Independents are sometimes powerful in the Dáil when they hold the balance of power but this does not happen in the EU. The European Parliament works differently. There is no government and opposition, rather seven political groups that engage in policy development, most importantly through detailed work in committees. Party groups are organised according to ideology from far left to extreme right.

Fine Gael is a member of the largest centre-right group, the European People’s Party (EPP). Ireland has no MEPs in the second-largest group, the European Socialists, although the Irish Labour Party has a long-standing affiliation with them, but since there are no Labour MEPs, Irish influence is low. 

Fianna Fáil is a member of the third-largest group, Renew Europe, and the Green Party’s MEPs sit with the European Greens. These are the most influential political groups. At least until 2024, they had much of the running of the European Parliament sewn up. These groups also have most of the prime ministers of Europe and a majority of the European Commissioners so their influence is spread across EU institutions. 

Sinn Féin and many independent Irish MEPs sit in the Left-GUE group. This group can have influence but it takes time to develop. Two far/extreme-right groups have been on the fringes of power in the last parliament but there is an expectation that this will change after the election.

However, there is also a lot of uncertainty about the likely composition of the far-right groups. Some of the parties in these groups dislike each other as much as the rest of the groups dislike them. 

In any case, it looks unlikely that Ireland will elect an MEP that would sit with either the far or extreme right.

Many of our most influential MEPs spent multiple terms in the European Parliament building up their transnational networks, developing policy expertise and making strategic alliances in the big political groups. Pat Cox, who became president of the European Parliament, was elected as an independent in Ireland but sat with the Liberals in what is now the Renew Europe group. 

Mairead McGuinness was vice-president of the European Parliament, following several successful terms as a Fine Gael MEP in the EPP group. Frances Fitzgerald’s route to success was undoubtedly shaped by the fact that she had been Tánaiste, and as a former deputy prime minister she had considerable advantage in the power stakes.

The European Parliament has gained power and influence at each referendum and the type of MEPs that Ireland elects is critical to how much power and advantage we can wield. Sending one-term MEPs that are likely to participate in marginal political groups is making Ireland weaker in Europe, not stronger. 

Keep this in mind when you are next listening to a debate. How long the candidate wants to stay in Europe is important. Political experience and policy specialisation matter, and more is better on both fronts. 

Political parties have greater sway in Europe; independents are hamstrung by the absence of transnational networks but a good independent can succeed, especially if they stay a few terms and build up expertise. There is one week left in the campaign to make your choices.

• Dr Theresa Reidy is a political scientist at University College Cork.