Luke 'Ming' Flanagan
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Luke 'Ming' Flanagan MEP |
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| Member of the European Parliament | |
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Assumed office 1 July 2014 |
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| Constituency | Midlands–North-West |
| Teachta Dála | |
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In office February 2011 – May 2014 |
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| Constituency | Roscommon–South Leitrim |
| Roscommon County Council | |
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In office 2004–2011 |
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| Constituency | Castlerea |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 January 1972 Roscommon, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Political party | Independent / GUE/NGL |
Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (born 22 January 1972) is an Irish independent politician, currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Midlands–North-West constituency.
Flanagan served as a member of Roscommon County Council between 2004 and 2011. First elected at the 2004 local election, he was re-elected in 2009, and served as mayor from 2010 until his election as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Roscommon–South Leitrim constituency at the 2011 general election. He served in Dáil Éireann for three years before being elected as an independent candidate for the Midlands–North-West constituency at the 2014 European Parliament election. Flanagan is a social campaigner best known for his long-running involvement in the campaign for the legalisation of cannabis and addressing allegations of corruption in the Garda Síochána, the national police force.
Flanagan has been convicted on several occasions of possession of cannabis for personal use. Flanagan served nine days of a 15-day sentence in 1998 in Loughan House open prison in County Cavan, for refusing to pay a fine imposed for breach of the Litter Pollution Act.
Flanagan began his political career running unsuccessfully as an independent candidate in the Galway West constituency at the 1997 general election. He entered politics urging the legalisation of cannabis and as a protest candidate against his landlord, Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey. He got 548 votes (1.1%). He went on to contest the Connacht–Ulster constituency at the 1999 European Parliament election receiving 5,000 votes (1.6%) and the Longford–Roscommon constituency at the 2002 general election receiving 779 votes (1.6%).
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