Mr Gerard Collins, the Munster Fianna Fail MEP, was yesterday elected a vice-president of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The leader of the Fianna Fail group in Strasbourg defeated a Green candidate, Ms Bloch von Blottnitz, by a vote of 322 to 141 against.
He becomes one of 14 vice-presidents of the House.
Mr Collins is the third Irish MEP to hold the position. The first was Mr Mark Clinton in the 1970s; in the 1980s, Mr Paddy Lalor was also elected.
A statement from the Fianna Fail group said the election represented the important and pivotal role the Union for Europe Group, of which the party is a member, plays in the European Parliament.
"This is contrary to what our political detractors would try to have the Irish public believe," said the statement.
This was seen to be a reference to the announcement on Monday evening by the Parliament's President, Mr Jose Maria Gil Robles, that the 20 Italian "Forza" members of the Union for Europe Group, had left to join the European People's Party.
This group, to which the Fine Gael Party belongs, takes the EPP to 200 members, just 14 behind the largest group, the Party of European Socialists.
Meanwhile, in the Parliament, the MEPs failed to reach a vote on the controversial report on agriculture which is highly critical of the cuts being proposed in Agenda 2000.
It will be voted on later today and should be endorsed by Parliament.