Economy and Lands Minister Silvio Schembri is the MP who has been marked “absent” most times from parliamentary sittings in the first year of this legislature.

Data analysed by The Malta Independent on Sunday found that Schembri was absent from Parliament without having a reason 19 times.

The runners-up were PL MP Ray Abela, PL MP Chris Agius and PN MP Stephen Spiteri, all reported as being absent from the House of Representatives without having a reason 18 times.

Analysis of the data also found that PN leader Bernard Grech was only marked absent once, while Prime Minister Robert Abela was marked absent 12 times.

MPs never marked absent were Alison Zerafa Civelli, Deo Debattista and Clyde Caruana from the PL, and David Agius, Karol Aquilina, Graham Bencini, Toni Bezzina and Graziella Galea from the PN.

The data spans from the first sitting on 7 May 2022 to 28 March, which covers 108 parliamentary sittings.

This data was collected by The Malta Independent on Sunday by going through all the absences listed on the minutes of every parliamentary session. When the Parliamentary Clerk’s Office was asked for the Excel sheet that compiles a record of all the absences in Parliament, we were told that “the Excel sheet is only updated from time to time and serves only an internal purpose”.

MPs are only marked as absent if they do not have a reason for not attending plenary sessions. Other no-shows would be excused for government commitments, party matters or separate parliamentary duties.

The Standing Orders of the House lays down that an MP “shall be excused from service in the House or on any committee thereof so long as he has leave of absence from the Speaker. Members who are on business related to the House, the Parliamentary Group or on official party business, and Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries on Government business and Members of Parliament who accompany a Minister or a Parliamentary Secretary on Government business, outside Malta shall be entered in the minutes of the House as being excused... The Minutes shall distinguish between Members who are abroad on Parliamentary, Government, Parliamentary Group or official party business”.

Although MPs did not offer a reason for being absent, not all absentees would be fined the €50 penalty, because to be fined €50 an MP would have to be absent from the whole parliamentary day.

Therefore, if an MP was absent for a morning parliamentary session, but then present during the evening, then the MP would not be liable to pay the €50 penalty. There were many instances like this, especially during November when there were two parliamentary sittings a day when the budget estimates were being debated.

The Standing Orders of the House reads that “if a Member is absent during the whole of a parliamentary day without leave of absence, he shall be liable to an administrative penalty. The administrative penalty shall amount to fifty euros (€50) and shall apply to all Members of Parliament, including Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries… For the purposes of this standing order “parliamentary day” means a day during which parliamentary work is carried out and which consists of a sitting or more of the House, or of such sitting or sittings and work of Parliamentary Committees”.

When the Parliamentary Clerk’s Office was asked for a list of MPs that have been fined since the start of the legislature, it did not respond. Instead, it quoted the standing order explaining that an MP must pay the fine within six months. “For this reason, MPs are in the process of settling the amounts due,” it said.