The question is how do we balance investment in tourism and rural infrastructure with protecting farmers' lands and livelihood and should farmers have the right to refuse? MEP Ciara Mullaly, do you think is there adequate protections for farmers when public projects required the acquisition of private land?

something very clear at the beginning.

I have serious doubts about this proposal and for one reason, compulsory purchase orders, as far as I'm concerned, are not to be used in a situation like this.

I really think they should be reserved, CPOs for an urgent and a public need.

I'm talking about a motorway, a bad stretch of a road where a piece of land is needed.

I really do not think in the context of a tourism facility that CPOs are appropriate at all.

I can see what they add to the community.

MEP Malooly, is that nearly comparing apples and pears? You know, like the funding for Greenway wouldn't be the same pot that that would come from, or is that not right in saying that?

Midlands MEP for Independent Ireland, Ciara Mullooly, is actually there this week and he's been telling me about the impact that the unrest has had.

Well, I arrived in France, in Strasbourg, actually, yesterday afternoon to be greeted by a very shaken local population.

In the modern Paris, there was unrest here at the weekend.

It is quiet today and there's no evidence of major protests.

But I suppose, you know, the backdrop of all this is very much the unrest and the dissatisfaction of students.

This began...

in student quarters, in student territory.

When we talk about the unrest, are they certain that it was indeed groups from the far left that had caused the worst of the violence?

Have they failed in framing food security into that package?

Well, they seem to have abysmally failed in that area.

When you listen to the debate, as I do in Brussels, They are repeatedly advised by MEPs and repeatedly advised by member states that food security is as important as defence at the end of the day, that there can be no defence in Europe without food security across all our member states.

We saw that initially when the conflict began in Ukraine, when Russia began that conflict, we saw the pressure it put on food security and food supplies coming from that region.

Yes, yet there seems to be, as I say, a failure of government at presidency level to tackle this issue and significantly sit down in a meaningful way.

But that's the biggest disappointment for me over the course of the last few weeks.

It's as if we've had three months of the Irish presidency without the scale of engagement that we would have hoped for.

If they don't manage to do that, is there not an argument that the Irish government could pick up the shortfall here in this country and increase our agricultural budget to meet any deficit into the coming few years? Or does that look unlikely given the fact that our own agriculture budget went down by 100 million this year?

With public funding of a national broadcaster, there can be a danger that if government withholds funding because it doesn't like how the broadcaster is being run, could that eventually threaten editorial independence, or is that overstating a dispute that's really about management and spending?

Well, you know, listen, I worked in RTE, as you said, for over twenty-five years.

I, uh, did anyone at any stage, any minister ever tell me to do anything on te-television news? No, he didn't or she didn't.

That didn't happen.

Was there ever a time within the organization when the, the mood music changed about the government or about, or about, uh, pay, pay wages or the staff? There certainly were.

There certainly-- several times.

I remember, for instance, when the, uh, the-- we were told our studios were going to close in the Midlands unless there was, uh, support coming from the government.

But are they getting the same amount of time, not just on RTE, but on media more widely, the papers? It, it seems this is the issue, politically at least, that has become the lightning rod.

sure.In terms of, uh, highlighting families in, in Meath and, and Galway who are struggling to afford housing, uh, give me an example of, of what you were, were specifically highlighting.

Yeah.

In the course of my work as vice chair of this committee, I went to five different locations around Ireland to speak to people on the ground about the situation, and I went to the Ardboy Hotel in Navan, and I spent, uh, three hours there one day speaking to people from the community.

Some of the people that came in to me were from the St. Vincent de Paul, uh, branch there in, in, in Navan.

People who are carrying... mostly volunteers, who are carrying out tremendous work in supporting people who, who are vulnerable.

But they explained to me the way the, the, the, the job has changed over the course of the last number of years.

They explained that initially St. Vincent de Paul in Navan would've been called upon to help people maybe with fuel, um, and maybe with food.

Finally, uh, Ciarán, how long before, uh, the EU's proposed Af- Affordable Housing Act could actually become, uh, law?

So is that part of the equation, particularly given the Russian situation and some of our supply chains being cut off there?

That's the big picture, Will.

You're quite right.

That's the big picture for Europe.

We're in a mess when it comes to energy.

It is an absolute mess.

Half of Europe is struggling still with fossil fuels and the cost is going up.

And again, I appreciate there's some guesswork in what an associate member is, but would there be free movement with Canada if this went ahead?

So you never really won anything, did you?

Well, let me correct you, Greg.

Let me explain to you how important.

This is a ban.

We're not talking about something that stops for a day or two.

We're talking two to five to ten years before Brazilian beef is coming back.

For starters, in this year alone, 2.4 million has been paid to Brazilian farmers for meat consumed in this country.

You come from a country that I would argue is perhaps one of the most liberal in this space in the EU.

And are these skilled positions capable of supporting families locally, or are they relatively low-paid jobs?

jobs?Well, this is the question I, I asked him when, when, when we met first.

And we talked about, uh, there are jobs basically for the type of people who used to get jobs in Bord na Móna as apprentices many, many, many more, many years, many years ago.

Uh, he's talking about people involved, maybe fitters, mechanics, uh, people who, who...

Every, I remember it well myself.

Every winter, uh, I was a, went to a tech myself.

Every winter, we'd have block release apprentices coming in from all over Ireland and the Midlands.

But who actually has the power to say yes to this project?

Why are you convening the public meeting in relation to this story?

Well, we have a problem, and a fairly big problem, David.

Anyone who's involved in the wainling business or indeed the calf trade in Leigh, Shoffley and Westmead will have heard in the last 10 days that Brittany furries have pulled their service.

This was a very important service to farmers here because Brittany had the capacity to carry nine livestock trucks which could carry about 250 calves on any given day and bring them off to markets, important markets in France and Netherlands and indeed in Poland in recent years.

And there's no other ship in this country that can accommodate that capacity on top of what they have at the moment.

It's a very important trade to us.

It's worth between up to about 400 million euro per year, our trade abroad.

If that's the case, is there not a way of coming up with a practical solution that Brittany Ferries could continue doing it?

Ciarán, you go ahead, please, with your first question.

Yeah, I mean, I want to ask Jürgen up straight if he knows what antimicrobial resistance is in terms of medical situation.

It's basically a medical condition which occurs after the overuse of antibiotics.

It's something that affects you and me.

Forget about the animals for the moment.

It's you and me, your kids, your family.

And if in an emergency situation, you go into hospital, you require antibiotics.

So why can you not help with providing

He is doing a podcast about, But I doubt very much he's earning anything the colour of his RTE salary through a podcast.

Well, see, this has been my problem from day one, even when I worked in the organisation.

You know, I was paid, by the way, started at 40,000, finished just over 80 after 25 years in the place.

But the average pay in that organisation, in our newsroom in Dublin, was back closer to 50,000 euro, under 50,000 euro.

And that's where the problem started.

Many of those people working longer hours, very talented people, Not so-called talent, this terrible phrase, the talent, not seen as the talent in the place.

Without their talents and skills, the place wouldn't have stayed open during COVID, during an awful lot of other stuff.

So if there is a litmus test of confidence in RTE, does that suggest that the public... still hasn't had that confidence restored.

What's going to happen here? This can't continue.

Well, I mean, there's a basic problem, I mean, in terms of the way the organization has been run.

And I want to kind of state at the very outset that my heart goes out to the people, the ordinary workers, the minority people.

The staff are down at the bottom of the newsroom who've never got a smell of getting 50,000 and 900,000 euro, 200,000 euro from the place at any stage, who are doing their job week in, week out, and get it in the neck a lot too.

But there is a basic problem with management and has been in the organization.

It's historical, Niall.

And I'll give you one example of it.

2FM, and for

So does she really have farmers' interests at heart, would you say?

Well, I think the difficulty is not just the cap program, but it's the policy of trade deals, which Russell Von Dunnan has also pursued in Europe.

You will know I'm bitterly opposed to the Mercosur trade deal, not of where it is now, because I think we're getting control on their standards, but where it could go in terms of replacing Irish farmers and French farmers and Finnish farmers, for that matter, in the markets going down the line.

So it's a combination, really, of what I believe is an excessive rush to sign up trade deals alongside the cap package at the moment.

But let's be straight about this.

If it goes ahead, there are significant implications.

If you look at the actual cut that's proposed at the moment in terms of what it would do, it would reduce effectively the livestock herd in Europe.

but when we talk about food security uh mep maloli do you think it's fair to say that european consumers might need to be prepared to pay more in order to ensure food security local produce and so on

And Ciarán, in Parliament, in Strasbourg, you shared the stories of families who say they were deeply affected by public health restrictions back during those COVID years.

That's right, Adrian.

Good morning, and good morning to you and your listeners on LMFM.

That's right, I was contacted by Cire Champions, which is, as I say, an advocacy group.

They basically represent relatives of families and people who lost their loved ones during that terrible time in our history back in the COVID pandemic.

And they've come together, I suppose, firstly, to give their reaction to what's been going on in terms of the Irish government inquiry.

As you know, and your listeners will know, there's an independent, non-statutory evaluation going on.

But the second part of that question is, what can the European Union do, and your speech to Parliament, how can that possibly influence a decision by the Irish government to have a full inquiry? Good question.

Do you think enough is being done around the area of biodiversity in the next CAP as things stand?

My position has been clear on this.

I'd like to see the environmental funds ring-fenced.

I think that's critical going forward.

But I'd also like to see an assurance that this fund won't affect the single-farm payment.

At the end of the day, people have to remember the cap was initially designed for food security in Europe, not for environmental funds.

I'm not against the environmental funds, but we have to go back to the basics of working with this.

What other opportunities over the course of the lifespan of the presidential term does Ireland have to be cognisant of and ultimately take advantage of?

Can you tell us, were you aware or did you believe RTE was permanently abolishing that role?

Well, firstly, David, I'm glad I had the chance to answer the question.

I didn't get a chance in the Shannon last week.

The truthful situation is that I applied in February of 2021 to get any redundancy.

I've been an RTE for over 25 years.

I think I said it before on Will's programme that I wanted to get out, firstly, after the COVID pandemic, pandemic it was a tough time to be working but i've been there for 25 years and i was looking at different things so put in my name it was explained to me straight away the rules of this situation rte were trying to save money and that would include cutting jobs permanently and otherwise that's the way it was explained to me at the very beginning and so when i applied i said you know what's how do i get into this scheme and they said well we will examine your position and we'll decide so from that point forward rte carried out their own examination i suppose of of the numbers they were having working for them and otherwise.

Straight answer to your question, I didn't know what RT were going to do.

I suppose this morning, Ciarán, to put a line under it, you're saying that each redundancy was assessed on a case-by-case basis and that's ultimately where the state broadcaster landed regarding your role and your departure.

And I think we're all aware of that, and we're aware of the issues with Brazilian beef, but it's the claim that it's being used in school meals is what has annoyed people.

Well, if you let me continue or conclude the point, Adrian, that consignment of meat ended up in the Republic of Ireland.

And last week, the commissioner responsible for food safety decided that he would ensure that Brazilian meat was taken off the food safety list.

I met the commissioner and asked him about that meat, where it went.

Did it go to a school? Did it go to a hospital? Did it go to a factory? Did it go to where it went? The Food Safety Commissioner explained to me at the very outset the problem here.

He couldn't answer that question.

He made the point very clearly to me that the issue is frozen meat coming in in consignments.

what makes you believe that it may have been used in school meals?

Ciarán, are the government and people like yourself, are you missing the broader picture? Are you missing the national interest here?

Good morning, Colm.

Firstly, I'd like to welcome the Taoiseach's...

No, Shane.

Firstly, I'd like to welcome the Taoiseach's decision and his sense.

And I'm only issue really first and foremostly, and that's the issue of public health.

We have established in the European Parliament... and in the European Commission over the course of the last 18 months, the presence of very, very serious and very dangerous illegal animal growth promoters in Brazilian beef.

Ciarán Mullaly, is that not a way around this?

They think it's cheap beef, but at what price, Ciarán?

Yeah, I was trying to think in a nutshell how I can explain this to your listeners.

And this is what I'm going to say to you.

In a previous life, I was a reporter for RT News.

I went to courtrooms all over the Midlands for court cases taken by the Irish state against farmers.

They were prosecuted for using illegal animal growth promoters to put weight on the animals, grow the animals and sell them at a higher price.

They used drugs like Planbuterol to enhance the weight.

So is that one of the other primary objections as well?