I4C Trouble with Daly and Wallace

With no Damien in the studio this week, Mick and Clare are left to their own devices and Mick takes the opportunity to tell a few stories… They’re also joined by agricultural expert and activist Matteo Netta who gives us the inside scoop on “social farming”, what on earth is it and is there any hope of the EU including it in the Common Agricultural Policy? Last on the agenda is the big news story of the week- the uproar over US troops landing in Shannon airport in breach of Covid restrictions- but US military use of Shannon isn’t a new problem- why is the US military being allowed to land there in the first place, and does it call Irish neutrality into question?

Mick and Clare discuss all things foreign policy- What is the EU’s role in foreign affairs and why does it matter? They talk EU military spending and the European Parliament’s total obsession with Russia and the Navalny saga, which is getting more airtime than the serious humanitarian crises happening elsewhere. There are some positive developments in the Parliament’s stance on the conflict in Yemen. But other issues continue to fly under the radar: what about the the EU land-grab happening in Ukraine? And why is the EU not doing more to address Abiy Ahmed's war crimes in Tigray, Ethiopia?

All eyes on the EU (for once) as details begin to emerge of the bungling of the vaccine rollout… In other news, Clare discusses EU policing cooperation with Israel, how Russian interference is being used to justify increased EU arms expenditure, and we have some spectacular stream-of-consciousness musings from Mick, bringing us from the Common Agricultural Policy to why the western media is so obsessed with Navalny, via Yemen and Belarus.

Vaccines are still the rage as the 'thick begins to plotten' and Europe and the UK head towards a trade war. A busy week in the Parliament - Clare is dealing with MEP's who are obsessed with electoral interference and Mick is looking for degrowth to save the planet...

Life goes on in the Parliament, while Europe is getting lost in the COVID mist. The EU is under pressure as it finds itself at the mercy of Big Pharma Elsewhere, Clare discusses European Arrest Warrants and Julian Assange, while Mick believes he has more support in Ireland than Alexander Navalny has in Russia and therefore the EU should back Wallace to run Ireland.

Mick is coughing, which he blames on the heat, but he plans to stick around for a while yet. However, the ignoramus Trump won't be sticking around, and with Biden only barely alive what's the future for the US after the riots on Capitol Hill? Did Europe get its Covid-19 vaccine order right? Mick and Clare discuss the corona virus and how biodiversity loss will create more virus problems in the future.

Brexit is boring Mick and Clare to death, so much so that people think they may actually be dead because RTE covers nothing from Europe these days other than Brexit. However, it doesn't stop the two Irish MEP's discussing everything from the Balkans, to Iran, to human rights to the leaky water pipes in Dublin that Mick wasn't allowed fix. Oh, and of course their new book - "The Coalition of the Unwilling" - which covers their infamous break-in at Shannon Airport.

The great bastion of democracy, the European Union, claimed the recent elections in Venezuela were a fraud, even before they took place. Unlucky for them intrepid travellers Mick and Clare were two of four MEPs who bothered to journey to Caracas to observe proceedings for themselves. This is their account of what really went down in Venezuela.

Mick believes Damien is attempting to cancel him - well, at the very least his stories of gratuitous sex. Meanwhile, Clare discusses "The Joy of Sex", her Fundamental Rights Report, the pleanary speech that made headlines across Spain and Catalunya, and being compared to a rapist by a far right headbanger. And Mick provides more background to the trouble brewing in Ethiopia.

Mick is in a state of shock after being called "the MEP who looks like the bass player from Jethro Tull" during a committee meeting with a neo conservative journalist. The two MEPs discuss their amendment to the report on stocktaking of the European Elections, where they aim to establish a free EU-wide TV channel for streaming proceedings from the European Parliament. Mick reminisces about the scandal that is the National Children's Hospital. In what would be a first for the European Parliament Clare ruminates on voting against her own "Daly Report" on fundamental rights. She tells us how the report ended up being an absolute mess and how that came to be. And the lead bullets ban is back on the agenda much to everyone's dismay.