Ming Flanagan

LionelNashe

Just watching the Private members business on
http://asx.heanet.ie/oireachtas/dail_broadband.asx

His name appeared on the screen as Luke 'Ming' Flanagan.
Why the inverted apostrophes, I wonder? Isn't Ming his real name now?

Permabear

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Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Rae isn't officially part of the Healy-Rae's surname either.

DublinWriter

I think he changed his name by deed-poll to 'Ming the Merciless Flannigan' back in the day. That should be his official name by law.

So what? To my ear it still doesn't sound as ridiculous as Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher.

Permabear

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bijapos

DublinWriter wrote: »

I think he changed his name by deed-poll to 'Ming the Merciless Flannigan' back in the day. That should be his official name by law.

I don't think he ever did change his name officially, he is usually known as "Ming" is Roscommon, never Ming the Merciless.

A good few years ago Ming was supposed to go to jail on grounds of not paying a fine for possessing cannabis (or something similar). He wanted to go to jail himself to highlight the idiocity of the law. His mother didn't want him going so she got his father to go down to the courts to pay the fine. since then his father is often referred to as Ming the Merciful. This might be where the confusion arises.

Callan57

bijapos wrote: »

I don't think he ever did change his name officially, he is usually known as "Ming" is Roscommon, never Ming the Merciless.

A good few years ago Ming was supposed to go to jail on grounds of not paying a fine for possessing cannabis (or something similar). He wanted to go to jail himself to highlight the idiocity of the law. His mother didn't want him going so she got his father to go down to the courts to pay the fine. since then his father is often referred to as Ming the Merciful. This might be where the confusion arises.

Now that he's on a 'nice little earner' I hope he paid this Dad back

end a eknny

i know us irish like a godd laugh but why elect a joke

whoopdedoo

end a eknny wrote: »

i know us irish like a godd laugh but why elect a joke

he says with a straight face haha /\

as far as I know Luke changed his name by deed poll to gain some much needed publicity when trying to run against Frankeen Fahy in the elections years back, correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it to be the truth

beagle001

Ming is no joke,he was an excellent councillor is far better read than many if the elected Td's and will actually commit to his responsibility as an elected representative unlike most if the others.
Any bill that the govt try to slip through in the dead if the night will now be scrutinised by people like Ming.
It's a pity we do not have more people like Ming in the Dail.

reilig

end a eknny wrote: »

i know us irish like a godd laugh but why elect a joke

Yea, I can't understand why the public voted FG into power either. At least those that voted for ming know that he's honest and that he'll fight tooth and nail to keep his election promises.

On a side note, does anyone know if Deputy's Dennis Naughton and Frank Feighan resigned today as they promised to do in their election promises if 24 hour emergency services were removed from Roscommon Hospital? It was an awful act for their leader to pull - to make the announcement that Roscommon will lose the service at the launch of Naughton's new "high rent" office in Athlone yesterday. Must have been a total embarrisment for Naughton who had invited all his croneys from Roscommon to it and then to hear that they were losing services in their local hospital. Talk about taking lambs to the slaughter!!!

Tabnabs

DublinWriter wrote: »

So what? To my ear it still doesn't sound as ridiculous as Pat 'The Cope' Gallagher.

Or Seán Dublin Bay Rockall Loftus :rolleyes:

yessam

beagle001 wrote: »

Ming is no joke,he was an excellent councillor is far better read than many if the elected Td's and will actually commit to his responsibility as an elected representative unlike most if the others.
Any bill that the govt try to slip through in the dead if the night will now be scrutinised by people like Ming.
It's a pity we do not have more people like Ming in the Dail.

Enda Kenny must really have it in for Dennis Naughton since he supported the failed upheavel of Kenny.

If Naughton supports any downgrade of Roscommon Hospital, he should resign as quick as possible and hide his head in shame.

Can Naughton and Feighan resign quickly and get a by-election in place, so we can elect someone who can get something done or prevent something from being done

COYW

beagle001 wrote: »

Ming is no joke,he was an excellent councillor is far better read than many if the elected Td's and will actually commit to his responsibility as an elected representative unlike most if the others.

Politically I am completely opposed to Luke but I must say that I have seen him in action and he is very sincere in what he does. He actually represents the concerns of the people in his local area.

I really dislike the sniggering when he speaks in the Dail and it came from his members of the house on the left when I was present, I must say. It is extremely disrespectful to him as a TD and a person.

beagle001

The sniggering I have not seen that but it would not surprise me in the slightest.
It's the sort of carry on typical of the Dail,unfortunately there is no hope for this country as the Dail is full of elected assholes and the odd decent td is sadly well in the minority.

BlueBaron

bijapos wrote: »

I don't think he ever did change his name officially, he is usually known as "Ming" is Roscommon, never Ming the Merciless.

A good few years ago Ming was supposed to go to jail on grounds of not paying a fine for possessing cannabis (or something similar). He wanted to go to jail himself to highlight the idiocity of the law. His mother didn't want him going so she got his father to go down to the courts to pay the fine. since then his father is often referred to as Ming the Merciful. This might be where the confusion arises.

That story is false, he actually did spend a short time in prison, 9 days out of a 15 day sentence if i remember correctly..Also he has been known as Ming The Merciless from time to time.

matthew8

BlueBaron wrote: »

That story is false, he actually did spend a short time in prison, 9 days out of a 15 day sentence if i remember correctly..Also he has been known as Ming The Merciless from time to time.

Actually his dad did bail him out but then he got into trouble again and went to prison.

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Say what you like about sniggering in the Dail, but the House of Commons is worse. Its like watching a pantomime with all the childish shouting and booing that goes on.

coolbeans

end a eknny wrote: »

i know us irish like a godd laugh but why elect a joke

Why is he a joke pray tell? Any time I've seen him orate he's been an erudite, sincere, principled and honest politician with his heart in the right place. We could do with more of this in the Dail in my opinion. Maybe you should think before you type.

Oasis_Dublin

Callan57 wrote: »

Now that he's on a 'nice little earner' I hope he paid this Dad back

A classic Irish reply here!

Oasis_Dublin

reilig wrote: »

Yea, I can't understand why the public voted FG into power either. At least those that voted for ming know that he's honest and that he'll fight tooth and nail to keep his election promises.

At least they know he's honest? How do they know he is honest? He still takes a ridiculous wage like his fellow TDs in the FG party. Nice populist dig at poor Fine Gael though.

blahfckingblah

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

At least they know he's honest? How do they know he is honest? He still takes a ridiculous wage like his fellow TDs in the FG party. Nice populist dig at poor Fine Gael though.

of course you cant have a dig at fg without being populist. its not like they have broken a series of election promises or anything. if this government had more mings we might not be in so much trouble

Oasis_Dublin

blahfckingblah wrote: »

of course you cant have a dig at fg without being populist. its not like they have broken a series of election promises or anything. if this government had more mings we might not be in so much trouble

Absolute load of crap.

Any mindless idiot can say, "Ming sed we shud legalze weed - why dont da blooshurts do dat?" Because Fine Gael have far bigger, more important fish to fry. Their big election promise was to get rid of the most corrupt political party (consistently) in the history of the state, which they did, and to challenge the terms of the bailout, which they are in the process of doing. If FF had not sold our sovereignty away, we would have more freedom in this regard. They also planned to get rid of Celtic Tiger jobs in the civil service, another process which has also begun.

Sticky_Fingers

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

At least they know he's honest? How do they know he is honest? He still takes a ridiculous wage like his fellow TDs in the FG party. Nice populist dig at poor Fine Gael though.

Untrue, he promised to only accept half his Dail wage as a election pledge and as far as I know he has kept his word. He did the same thing when elected mayor and ruffled a few feathers in the county council as a result.

CoalBucket

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

Rae isn't officially part of the Healy-Rae's surname either.

Isn't it ?

Learn something new everyday

blahfckingblah

well theres no hiding your political allegiance, luke flanagan is an articulate well spoken politician who knows what he is talking about.

your legalize weed comment is rediculous im not even going to go there.

FG are implementing fianna fails policies, they have backtracked on many of their own.

they spent their first 100 days trying to be seen by the media whilst doing nothing of substance.

and dont get me started on noonans spend spend spend.

Oasis_Dublin

blahfckingblah wrote: »

well theres no hiding your political allegiance, luke flanagan is an articulate well spoken politician who knows what he is talking about.

your legalize weed comment is rediculous im not even going to go there.

FG are implementing fianna fails policies, they have backtracked on many of their own.

they spent their first 100 days trying to be seen by the media whilst doing nothing of substance.

and dont get me started on noonans spend spend spend.

My political allegiance is not to FF, that's all I can say. You would be surprised who got my second, third and fourth preference votes last February.

Powerful rebuttal on my weed comment there. You could be a politician; you write a lot but you don't really say anything.

Articulate and well-spoken? Like 150 odd others (short of 165 because not all TDs are articulate and well spoken), so a really pointless thing to say. As per.

You're right, they should establish entirely new policies, free from the shackles of the EU/IMF bank bailout. Oh no, wait, that's completely impossible. I've a funny feeling I've already discussed this. "If FF had not sold our sovereignty away, we would have more freedom in this regard."

Doing nothing of substance? They promised to attempt to renegotiate the FF/EU/IMF deal. This is extremely important for this country and they have done that.

"Don't get me started on Noonan's spend, spend, spend?" Again, another empty statement. If you have nothing important to say, then don't bother replying. Much obliged.

blahfckingblah

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

My political allegiance is not to FF, that's all I can say. You would be surprised who got my second, third and fourth preference votes last February.

Powerful rebuttal on my weed comment there. You could be a politician; you write a lot but you don't really say anything.

Articulate and well-spoken? Like 150 odd others (short of 165 because not all TDs are articulate and well spoken), so a really pointless thing to say. As per.

You're right, they should establish entirely new policies, free from the shackles of the EU/IMF bank bailout. Oh no, wait, that's completely impossible. I've a funny feeling I've already discussed this. "If FF had not sold our sovereignty away, we would have more freedom in this regard."

Doing nothing of substance? They promised to attempt to renegotiate the FF/EU/IMF deal. This is extremely important for this country and they have done that.

"Don't get me started on Noonan's spend, spend, spend?" Again, another empty statement. If you have nothing important to say, then don't bother replying. Much obliged.

fine il go there, i dont take drugs i dont advocate it either but if he does its his personal choice, its no longer listed as one of his policies on his website even.

promised to renegotiate, ok how did that go?

you'v already discussed this? you made an "empty statement" why dont you tell me what his holiness emda kenny would have done differently in this regard

Oasis_Dublin

blahfckingblah wrote: »

fine il go there, i dont take drugs i dont advocate it either but if he does its his personal choice, its no longer listed as one of his policies on his website even.

promised to renegotiate, ok how did that go?

you'v already discussed this? you made an "empty statement" why dont you tell me what his holiness emda kenny would have done differently in this regard

Politicians can advocate drug use? I'm slightly confused.

They didn't promise succeed, thus they didn't lie to anyone. FF got them into this mess. I'm not sure that I can make it any more easy for you. Tell me which parts you are having difficulty with?

end a eknny

beagle001 wrote: »

Ming is no joke,he was an excellent councillor is far better read than many if the elected Td's and will actually commit to his responsibility as an elected representative unlike most if the others.
Any bill that the govt try to slip through in the dead if the night will now be scrutinised by people like Ming.
It's a pity we do not have more people like Ming in the Dail.

ming was an still is in the lucky position that he could make any pre election promises and keep them because he was never going to be in a position to keep them . top that with some of the ludicrous over the top bull he came out with during election and his pathecially cliched speeches, hes a joke alright. then he gets in a bit of trouble for admiting to smoking weed and backs down on the only actual policy he has by claiming to give it up so that the gardai arent obliged to raid his house and take his stash

karma_

end a eknny wrote: »

ming was an still is in the lucky position that he could make any pre election promises and keep them because he was never going to be in a position to keep them . top that with some of the ludicrous over the top bull he came out with during election and his pathecially cliched speeches, hes a joke alright. then he gets in a bit of trouble for admiting to smoking weed and backs down on the only actual policy he has by claiming to give it up so that the gardai arent obliged to raid his house and take his stash

This post just doesn't make any kind of sense, nor is it based in any kind of reality.

end a eknny

karma_ wrote: »

This post just doesn't make any kind of sense, nor is it based in any kind of reality.

read it again in the morning and it will make more sense. he only has one policy, that is the legalisation of cannabis and he was even man enough to stand up for his beliefs

karma_

end a eknny wrote: »

read it again in the morning and it will make more sense. he only has one policy, that is the legalisation of cannabis and he was even man enough to stand up for his beliefs

This is what I'm referring to, this is not the only policy he has campaigned on. It's fairly insulting to those who voted him into office to portray it as such.

Oasis_Dublin

end a eknny wrote: »

ming was an still is in the lucky position that he could make any pre election promises and keep them because he was never going to be in a position to keep them

+1. Exactly, he is a nobody who can make idle populist promises because he will never be in ministerial position in government.

end a eknny

karma_ wrote: »

This is what I'm referring to, this is not the only policy he has campaigned on. It's fairly insulting to those who voted him into office to portray it as such.

but why vote him into office he was never be in any goverment ad therefore his policies are irrelevant. also he got a protest vote and he picked the usual vote getting hospitals turf and whatever bull culchies like to hear. to land himself a well paying handy number. maybe he is not as stupid as he looks and sounds

Jagle

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

Politicians can advocate drug use? I'm slightly confused.

why cant they? if they believe that one drug is no worse then another drug, in this example cannabis and alcohol/ tobacco why cant they express that opinion?

surely the public should know what the candidate of an election or their councilor/representative beliefs are.

Jan O Sullivan of labour is also in favor of its decriminalisation or its legalisation for medicinal uses

Vizzy

Ming's effectiveness( or lack of) will be evident when Roscommon General Hospital A&E Dept is closed.

Oasis_Dublin

Jagle wrote: »

why cant they? if they believe that one drug is no worse then another drug, in this example cannabis and alcohol/ tobacco why cant they express that opinion?

surely the public should know what the candidate of an election or their councilor/representative beliefs are.

Jan O Sullivan of labour is also in favor of its decriminalisation or its legalisation for medicinal uses

Well I don't care what my local candidate's views are on alcohol... unless they keep bringing it up and have a history of running purely based on the fact that they use alcohol.

None of the politicians I gave a vote to yelped on about their previous drug use, be it alcohol, cannabis or crystal meth.

karma_

Vizzy wrote: »

Ming's effectiveness( or lack of) will be evident when Roscommon General Hospital A&E Dept is closed.

At least he will campaign for and be the voice of his constituency. Had a random FF/FG had been voted in instead, it is likely that the wishes of the constituents would take second place to the wishes of the party.

Jagle

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

Well I don't care what my local candidate's views are on alcohol... unless they keep bringing it up and have a history of running purely based on the fact that they use alcohol.

None of the politicians I gave a vote to yelped on about their previous drug use, be it alcohol, cannabis or crystal meth.

so why do you care if Ming voices his opinions

tayto lover

Vizzy wrote: »

Ming's effectiveness( or lack of) will be evident when Roscommon General Hospital A&E Dept is closed.

Well he won't be on his own there as at least two Fine Gael T.D.'s will be in the same boat.

Vizzy

karma_ wrote: »

At least he will campaign for and be the voice of his constituency. Had a random FF/FG had been voted in instead, it is likely that the wishes of the constituents would take second place to the wishes of the party.

He may do, and the best of luck to him and the people of Roscommon.

My point is simple though,Ming and all the other independants are effectively powerless when decisions of this nature are made(unless they have the Gov caught by the family jewels ala Tony Gregory,Ml Lowry or Jackie H Rae)

Oasis_Dublin

Jagle wrote: »

so why do you care if Ming voices his opinions

I came across this topic while having a look at the politics forum. I came across two posts which had to be replied to. Now here we are.

When Luke mingen Flanagan tries to do the right thing (save a hospital) and fails, he is applauded for trying. He has tried to right a wrong that is out of his control (ie FG/Lab close the hospital) When Enda Kenny tries to do the right thing (undo FF's attempt to destroy Irish sovereignty) and fails, he's lampooned as a holier-than-thou type character who cares about nobody but himself. He has tried to right a wrong that is out of his control. (ie FF signed away Irish sovereignty for their €140,000 pensions)The double standards are alarming.

The politicians I vote for don't glamourise their drug use, as opposed to mingen Flanagan. Each to their own.

Permabear

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Oasis_Dublin

Permabear wrote: »

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Right, our political system isn't perfect. That's not what is up for discussion here. For the local politician, the right thing to do is to attempt to keep the hospital open. Thus, discussing mingen at this point, the right thing to do for him to fight for the local hospital.

Permabear

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matthew8

Permabear wrote: »

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He went way down in my estimations recently. Anyone who wants to know more about him should watch "dole eireann" or "the life and crimes of citizen ming".

flas

i dont think people actually know much about the whole roscommon hospital situation from reading some of the comments here? the whole issue is they want to save a&e in the county, so people wont have to be brought to galway, which is reasonable enough of a claim in this day and age. for instance if your mother or father was having a heart attack, and they lived 5 minutes away from an a&e that was just closed and had to travel an hour to the nearest hospital and died on route, would you not think it would be a vital service to the county?

I myself think that a&e's should be kept around the county but that specialist and full hospital services should be centralised.

im originally from longford, where there is no hospital, closest one is mullingar, always has been, but if you break your leg or break your arm you go to tullamore, which is not a fun hour and twenty minutes drive!

Sticky_Fingers

Oasis_Dublin wrote: »

Well I don't care what my local candidate's views are on alcohol... unless they keep bringing it up and have a history of running purely based on the fact that they use alcohol.

None of the politicians I gave a vote to yelped on about their previous drug use, be it alcohol, cannabis or crystal meth.

The main flaw in this argument is that unlike legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco your life can effectively be ruined if you indulge in cannabis, not on health grounds but purely on the whim of the legal system. Highlighting the absolute craziness of the status quo is IMO a good thing and if more politicians were willing to discuss their own experiences with drugs (I wager their are quite a few upstanding members of the house who could tell a story or two) it would help strip away some of the nonsense and hysteria surrounding the issue.

Oasis_Dublin

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

It's highly disingenuous of anyone to claim that non-ministerial TDs are anything other than people attempting to satisfy local constituents. We all would like it to be national politics but we both know it isn't like that now. We may as well deal with the situation as it actually stands and not as we would like it to be.

Oasis_Dublin

Sticky_Fingers wrote: »

The main flaw in this argument is that unlike legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco your life can effectively be ruined if you indulge in cannabis, not on health grounds but purely on the whim of the legal system. Highlighting the absolute craziness of the status quo is IMO a good thing and if more politicians were willing to discuss their own experiences with drugs (I wager their are quite a few upstanding members of the house who could tell a story or two) it would help strip away some of the nonsense and hysteria surrounding the issue.

There is no flaw in the argument. Enda Kenny or Michael Martin did not run on manifestos in previous elections based on the idea that they consumed alcohol or smoked weed. Mingen Flanagan has. After that, he's a populist rhetoric merchant. He needs to put on a suit and tie as well!