Luke 'Ming' Flanagan (born 22 January 1972) is an Irish politician who has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Ireland for the Midlands–North-West constituency since 2014.

[10] Flanagan began his political career as an independent candidate in the Galway West constituency at the 1997 general election, urging the legalisation of cannabis and campaigning against his landlord, Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey.

[12] The media did not portray him as a serious candidate, instead focusing on how he shaved his hair and styled his beard in the way of Ming the Merciless from the comic strip Flash Gordon.

He voiced uncompromising support for social and environmental issues, and the combination of his rhetoric and appearance attracted media attention.

[24][25] Following his election to the Dáil, Flanagan nominated independent John Murphy to replace him on Roscommon County Council.

[28] In March 2011, one month after being elected to Dáil Éireann, Flanagan announced that he would cease his smoking of cannabis while in Ireland in order to protect his family and focus on the issues for which he stands.

[25] In July 2011, Flanagan was linked to an incident in which a Dáil microphone picked up a conversation he had with fellow independent TDs Shane Ross and Mick Wallace.

[31] On 2 November 2011, Flanagan walked out of the Dáil amid a heated disagreement with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney over turf-cutting rights.

Flanagan had observed that his Fine Gael constituency colleague Frank Feighan had promised before the 2011 general election that he would "sign his name in blood" if that was required in order to oppose a turf-cutting ban, with Coveney responding by saying populism was a dangerous thing.

On 15 December 2011, Flanagan helped launch a nationwide campaign against a proposed household charge being brought in as part of the 2012 Irish budget.

[34] Flanagan admitted to "atrocious" timing after calling gardaí "corrupt" on television, as thousands of people gathered for the state funeral of murdered garda Adrian Donohoe in Dundalk, County Louth, in January 2013.

The stories caused controversy at the time, for Flanagan, along with other independent TDs, had been involved in a campaign highlighting the cancellation of 197 Fixed Charge Notices out of the 1.4 million issued, which it was alleged were 'inappropriately' quashed.

"[44] In a subsequent interview, he cited his experiences advocating for turf-cutting and against bank bail-outs as particular motivations to run for Europe, seeing the opportunity to increase his influence on the issues at the European level.

[46] In December 2014, Flanagan was named as having the second worst voting record among Irish MEPs at the European Parliament, as determined by VoteWatch Europe and reported in Ireland.

[52] In September 2020, Flanagan's Twitter account was hacked and posted a tweet referring to Green Party candidate Saoirse McHugh sexually.

In February 2024, his former assistant, Diarmuid Hayes, in the European Parliament admitted in court to having hacked the account and posted the tweet.

[54] Flanagan told the court his family had been "put through hell" by the incident and that it was a "cold, calculated and skillfully carried out attempt" to destroy him and that he has had to seek therapy after the media lambasted him, "I have to say it was difficult.