I4C Trouble with Daly and Wallace

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Needle and the damage done Jan 18, 2021

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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.

We're not dead, we've just been busy Dec 19, 2020

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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 Fracas in Caracas Dec 12, 2020

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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.

The Joy of Sex Nov 27, 2020

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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.

Lead bullets Nov 20, 2020

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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.

History says, don't hope Nov 13, 2020

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Clare and Mick give their reaction to the US presidential election and discuss what changes the world is likely to see under Biden and Harris. Meanwhile, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has run out of money at a time that the new US vice president, Kamala Harris, has promised to provide $70 million a week to Israeli security. Elsewhere, the fallout from CAP is still rankling with our two MEPs, particularly the clueless coverage of the deal back in Ireland.

And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf... Oct 30, 2020

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Mick's 96-year-old mother Maureen has sadly just passed away. Exiled in Brussels and unable to return home for the funeral, Mick remembers his late mother with a couple of interesting stories. Elsewhere, the European Parliament is getting locked down and the MEPs are about to get locked out. Clare rallies against the mistreatment and push backs of migrants and refugees on the European borders. Mick is taking on the lobbyists who are muddying the waters over the banning of lead shot. And the two MEPs make their predictions on which numbskull is likely to win the undemocratic US Presidential Election.

Things you didn't know you didn't know Oct 22, 2020

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We all heard of Jacinda Ardern's electoral win in New Zealand, but not a peep from the media about the landslide win in the Bolivian elections. Clare, Mick and Damien discuss the democracy in action which brought about the monumental win of MAS (Movement Towards Socialism party) in Bolivia, and the rejection of last year's right-wing coup. We've all read about the protests in Belarus, but who has said anything about the protests in Bulgaria? Clare is back from her trip around Bulgaria, where she is becoming a household name for taking on the corrupt Bulgarian Government and violent neo-nazis operating in the country. We're all braced for the worst when it comes to finding Funghi, but we're not all braced for the worst when it comes to CAP - a catastrophe for biodiversity. The European Parliament just voted for a destructive CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), which will bring about massive biodiversity loss and fund emitters with public money (30% of the EU budget)– no media dares to look into the details. Mick talks us through the monstrous CAP voting list and how the EPP, Renew and S&D political groups have undermined democracy and voted away any future we have of an ecological transition.

EP27 Bulgaria, Climate Law and Free Assange Oct 17, 2020

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In the twenty-seventh episode of I4C Trouble Clare explains why fundamental rights in Bulgaria were on the plenary agenda in October and why the largest group in the Parliament learned to regret it, while Mick discusses the strong position the Parliament has taken in the Climate Law. In other news, an Irish campaign to free Julian Assange was launched last week by the Galway Alliance Against War, the Parliament revisits the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran, and Venezuela wins its appeal in the UK courts over its stolen gold reserves.

EP26 Commissioner Hearings, Afghanistan and the Rule of Law Oct 11, 2020

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This week on I4C Trouble, Mick spills the beans on the hearings for the new Irish commissioner-designate, Mairead McGuinness. Clare reports on Europol's troubling aspirations to become a European FBI, and describes the interesting parliamentary politics around the first Rule of Law resolution, which centre on Bulgaria. The European Parliament discusses returning refugees to Afghanistan against the backdrop of an extremely precarious peace process. And while made up fears of "foreign interference" are used to justify massive military spending, the EU just doesn't seem to be able to stop itself interfering in elections in Latin America.