The Luke "Ming" Flanagan Thread

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

I for one think Luke will make a positive contribution to the 31'st Dáil, he probably will find himself in support of the new government on many an occassions and a thorn in its side in many others.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0626/1224273343794.html

From Ming the Merciless to Ming the Mayor
Mayor Ming: Cllr Luke Flanagan of Castlerea.Photograph: Mick McCormackIn this section »


Roscommon councillors will make Luke 'Ming the Merciless' Flanagan mayor of the county on a platform of health reform rather than his usual campaign to legalise cannabis

HE HAS BEEN described as a shaven-headed Charles Stewart Parnell and the epitome of persistence, and on Monday he will become mayor of his native county (in effect, Cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council). "Barring hiccups, of course – you know anything can happen in politics," says Luke "Ming the Merciless" Flanagan.

And the independent Roscommon councillor, who is best known for his shaven head, beard and sideburns, and his Flash Gordon comic-strip character middle name, has already ensured that anything can happen during his 13-year political career in the west.

Written off many times as a Monster Raving Loony Party-style eccentric, Flanagan has a commitment to social justice extending beyond his long-running campaign to legalise cannabis.

As he points out, it was a health issue that led to the effort to elect him Roscommon town's first citizen. An alliance of Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and independent councillors vehemently opposes the downgrading of Roscommon County Hospital. "Fianna Fáil has had the rug pulled from under them on this one," Flanagan says. A pact agreed by the alliance means he should hold the mayoral chain this year, with Fine Gael taking it for the next three.

Flanagan freely admits that "personal experience" provides much of his political focus. When his late mother, Lily, was diagnosed with cancer he had a taste of the health services – and didn't like what he saw. "At the same time, my father-in-law would not be alive today if it wasn't for the treatment he got in Roscommon," he adds.

In 1997 his experience with the law drove him to run in the general election, on a ticket urging the legalisation of cannabis and as a protest candidate against his landlord, Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey. Flanagan got 548 votes.

Early in 1998 he presented himself at Mill Street Garda Station in Galway, having been convicted for possessing cannabis and having refused to pay the £150 fine. To his chagrin he learned his father, Luke, had paid the fine. "My mother put him up to it," Flanagan says, remembering his mother's quote in this newspaper that "I wouldn't like my son to go to prison." His father was dubbed Ming the Merciful from then on.

Luke jnr had his way later that year, however, when he served nine days of a 15-day sentence in Loughan House open prison, in Co Cavan, for refusing to pay a fine imposed for breach of the Litter Pollution Act.

He ran in the 1999 European elections, polling a respectable 5,000 votes in Connacht-Ulster, and in 2001 he made headlines again when he sent 200 cannabis cigarettes to members of the Oireachtas, as part of his campaign to legalise cannabis.

In the 2004 local elections he topped the poll in Roscommon, and was re-elected on the first count last June.

Now the father of two children,aged five and seven, he has spoken out about the influence of the drinks lobby, about cuts to a teenage health initiative in his area and, most recently, about the rights of turf-cutters affected by the EU-led ban on harvesting in 32 raised bogs.

Again, this is an issue that touches him personally. "My grand-uncle Harry Fleming cut the same area of bog for 67 years, and my father after him, and now me," he said. "When we didn't have much money at home it was the turf that my father took in on his Ferguson tractor that kept us in clothes and insured the Hillman Hunter." He believes that if the EU and the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, are interested in protecting raised bogs, they would first "repair the damage done by Bord na Móna".

Flanagan intends to run for the Dáil again, and, like his comic-book hero, he doesn't give up easily. "And watch out for my T-shirt at the Connacht senior final," he says. "It's something to do with Nama."

[Nally Stand]

Should i start a thread for people who cant answer two simple questions??

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Should i start a thread for people who cant answer two simple questions??

Are you talking about Luke Flanagan from County Roscommon or has the vanity spread its wings?

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

http://www.lukemingflanagan.ie/

[Nally Stand]

Should i start a thread for people who cant answer two simple questions??

Are you talking about Luke Flanagan from County Roscommon or has the vanity spread its wings?

I'm talking about my repeated attempts for you to back up a claim you made on the other thread:
http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=18724.msg928745#msg928745

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Should i start a thread for people who cant answer two simple questions??

Are you talking about Luke Flanagan from County Roscommon or has the vanity spread its wings?

I'm talking about my repeated attempts for you to back up a claim you made on the other thread:
http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=18724.msg928745#msg928745

Done (again) can we leave this thread to Luke "Ming" Flanagan related discussion please?

[Denn Forever]

Will Ming wear a shirt and tie?  Is there a dress code to attend the Dail?  I reckon it may be the most colourful Dail with the likes of Ming and Mick Wallace.

I liked what he said in front of Dail where he said that he didn't know much about Finance but he would listen to those who did.

[Hardy]

I have a feeling this will be a long thread by the time 2016 comes around.

[Kerry Mike]

Do the Gardai have the right to search him on the way into the Dail on suspision of carrying and using illegal drugs?

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Do the Gardai have the right to search him on the way into the Dail on suspision of carrying and using illegal drugs?

They never checked Brian Cowan.

[Rossie11]

He said he will continue to grow it for personal use so he doesnt have to pay money to crime gangs for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6wb9WhTk0o&feature=related

Episode 6/10 of the life and Crimes of Citizen Ming shows him growing the plants in the bog outside Castlerea in 2001.
The whole series is worth a look.

[seafoid]

I have a feeling this will be a long thread by the time 2016 comes around.

do you think the guvmint will last that long?

[Hardy]

I don't even know if the EU will last that long.

[ross4life]

For those that are interested Ming is having a victory celebration night this Friday in the River Island Night Club, Castlerea

Plenty of bands & DJS including Republic of Loose

[Maguire01]

For those that are interested Ming is having a victory celebration night this Friday in the River Island Night Club, Castlerea

Plenty of bands & DJS including Republic of Loose

Deadly!