Ming appointment for Ballyhea protest founder O’Flynn

Diarmuid O’Flynn, founder of the ‘Ballyhea Says No’ protest movement, has been appointed parliamentary assistant to MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan.

While working for Mr Flanagan, he hopes to further the cause of the people he has aimed to help with Ballyhea Says No.

“A central plank of Luke’s campaign was the bank debt, which was a central plank of my own campaign. I will very much be working for Luke, but I’ll be working for the people of the country in the same way as the Ballyhea campaign has been doing from the very beginning,” said Mr O’Flynn.

In what was regarded as a very creditable performance for a political outsider, Mr O’Flynn was eliminated on the 10th count in this year’s European elections, securing 30,323 votes. Though based in Brussels, he hopes to return for three out of every four Sunday protest marches in Ballyhea.

“The protests here in Ballyhea are the foundation stone of what we are doing,” he said.

Mr O’Flynn. a former Irish Examiner staff sports writer, will advise Mr Flanagan on economic and environmental affairs. The latter responsibility will enable him to work towards preventing fracking in Ireland, he said. “Fracking is potentially hugely damaging,” he added.