'MEP for Gaza?' - Luke Flanagan slammed for raising Palestine flag instead of tricolour 

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan has been slammed for raising a Palestinian flag instead of an Irish tricolour after his re-election. 

Flanagan was first over the line in the Midlands-North-West constituency in the early hours of this morning (Friday June 14) with 11.5% of first preference votes. 

He was followed by MEPs Brian Cowen, Maria Walsh, Nina Carberry and Ciaran Mullooly. 

Despite topping the polls in the constituency, Flanagan drew ire online as video footage of his celebrations circulated online.

In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by Newstalk, Flanagan - whose shoulders are draped in a Palestinian flag - can be heard shouting, "Viva Palestine!" 

The video was viewed almost 70,000 times and drew hundreds of comments, the vast majority of which were negative. 

One X user commented, "The MEP for Gaza, eh? I wonder how the good people of Midlands-North-West feel about that?" while another wrote, "Strange that when you get elected as an MEP in Europe to represent Ireland and the first thing you do is take out a Palestinian flag instead of your own nations flag." 

Another person commented, "He's representing Ireland, he should be celebrating with the Irish flag, the flag of the people that voted for him, that he represents. He was voted by Irish people to represent Ireland as an MEP, not to represent Palestine..." 

Another X user wrote, "He's not an MEP for Palestine and it wasn't the Palestinians who voted him in and will be paying him his big wage, again. What an absolute disgrace, shouldn't have been allowed." 

However, not all comments were critical of Flanagan's decision to raise the Palestinian flag instead of the tricolour. 

One X user commented, "It’s good to show the EU we stand with Palestine." 

Another wrote, "We may have lost Clare Daly but at least we still have an MEP who will call out the genocide enablers in Europe." 

Another called him a "legend".