Early activism and electoral campaigns Flanagan first sought political office as an independent candidate in
Galway West at the
1997 general election, urging the legalisation of
cannabis and campaigning against his landlord,
Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey. He got 548 votes (1.1%). He contested
Connacht–Ulster at the
1999 European Parliament election receiving 5,000 votes (1.6%) and
Longford–Roscommon at the
2002 general election receiving 779 votes (1.6%). 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.
Local office Roscommon County Council (2004–2011) Flanagan returned to his native
Castlerea,
County Roscommon where he was elected at the
2004 Roscommon County Council election, topping the poll and being elected on the first count, defeating sitting councillors John Murray and Danny Burke. He was re-elected on the first count at
2009 Roscommon County Council election, receiving 16.8% of 1st preference votes in the Castlerea electoral area, and exceeding the quota by 394 votes.
Cathaoirleach of County Roscommon (2010–2011) On 28 June 2010, Flanagan was elected as
cathaoirleach of Roscommon County Council. During his time as chair of the council, he voluntarily took a 50 per cent cut of his allowance and took none of his foreign travel allowance, encouraging other politicians to do so. over his refusal to lead the prayer said before council meetings; he said that it would be hypocritical for him, as a non-believer, to lead it. The matter was later resolved by asking Leas-Chathaoirleach Ernie Keenan to say the prayer. In December 2010, Flanagan proposed that his allowance should be halved, and many of his other allowances be abolished entirely, in recognition of the financial difficulties that the country and the county were experiencing. The proposal met with a mixed reception from his council colleagues.
Dáil Éireann (2011–2014) Flanagan was elected for
Roscommon–South Leitrim in the
31st Dáil in the
2011 general election, one of twenty members of the
New Vision alliance of independent candidates. He received 8,925 (18.8%) first preference votes, which enabled him to take the first seat with 12,149 votes on the fourth count, while the two incumbent
Fine Gael TDs were elected on the sixth count. Neither of the two Fianna Fáil candidates managed to retain the seat of their retiring party colleague,
Michael Finneran. Upon his election, Flanagan took a 50% salary cut and urged his fellow TDs to follow suit. When he was elected in 2011, Flanagan kept his promise to retain only half of his €92,672 salary and distribute the rest to local projects. He refused to hand it back to the State, claiming it would only be pumped into the banks. 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. He said he still intended to smoke cannabis when abroad. This followed a formal complaint lodged to the
Garda Síochána by a Fianna Fáil councillor from
Kilkenny about his cannabis use. Flanagan said: "...my wife and children are the most important people on the planet to me and I don't want my kids to witness the Garda calling to the house." He said he would continue to campaign for the legalisation of cannabis. 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. During the exchange the trio appeared to be disparaging the appearance of
Fine Gael TD
Mary Mitchell O'Connor. Wallace initiated the conversation by saying "
Miss Piggy has toned it down a bit today". Flanagan was heard saying "they’d want to ban her wearing pink" and Ross commented that "she normally wears the most garish colours". 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. Flanagan then said, "Populism and bondholders. I am leaving the chamber"; Coveney then told him to "go on and walk out in protest". Flanagan retorted, "My daddy did not give me a seat." (Coveney had been elected in a
by-election after his father
Hugh Coveney TD died in an accident in March 1998.) 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. In April 2012, Flanagan stated he would be urging people to vote 'No' in the
referendum on ratification of the European
Fiscal Compact Treaty, on the grounds that Ireland would lose power to bigger countries in the
European Union, such as Germany and France. He also stated that Ireland should leave the
economic and monetary union (EMU), based on the
euro currency. 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. In early March 2013, Daniel McConnell of the
Sunday Independent reported that Flanagan had been issued with a fine of €60 and two penalty points on his driving licence for operating a mobile phone while driving in June 2011. According to these reports, Flanagan then had his punishment rescinded at a later date with a claim of being 'on Dáil business'. 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. In the Dáil, Flanagan admitted he twice had penalty points cancelled, though he also asked that they be reinstated. In June 2013, Flanagan came to prominence as an advocate of turf cutters whose ability to cut turf (
peat) was affected by the European Union's
Habitats Directive. As part of his advocacy, Flanagan attended a number of turf cutters' protests. Flanagan supports the cutting of turf from bogs including when they are protected as
Special Areas of Conservation. Despite a European Union ban, he has cut turf at Cloonchambers Bog near
Castlerea, a
raised bog which has been designated a Special Area of Conservation.
European Parliament (2014–present) On 21 March 2014, Flanagan announced that he would run as an independent candidate for the
Midlands–North-West constituency at the
2014 European Parliament election. He ran on an "anti-European Union platform". 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. On being elected as an MEP, Flanagan ended his previous policy of only keeping half his salary. At the time this amounted to €95,482 a year before tax and allowances. 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. He explained that this was as a result of his wife being ill and his children needing him. He supported a 'Yes' vote in the
Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2018 to repeal the constitutional ban on abortion. He was re-elected at the
2019 European Parliament election and again at the
2024 European Parliament election. ==Personal life==