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Coalition of The Unwilling

For over two decades the Irish government has allowed Shannon airport to be used as a United States military base to facilitate its endless imperialist wars, which have destroyed the lives of millions in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

The illegal transport of arms and munitions through Irish territory is a breach of international law, to which successive Irish governments have been happy to turn a blind eye, for fear of upsetting the United States. On the morning of 22 July 2014, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace resolved to do what the Irish government wouldn’t – they attempted to search a US warplane for evidence of any breach of international law. They hurled a rope ladder over the perimeter fence of Shannon airport, were arrested for trespass and were put on trial the following year at Ennis District Court.

Over the course of three days in court, Daly and Wallace managed to turn the tables around and put Irish foreign policy on trial. This is the story of that trial, its wider context, and a look at the worrying increase in the militarisation of Europe.