Luke 'Ming' Flanagan tells Minister Deenihan to 'put up or shut up'

Flanagan hit out at the minister following the appearance of two men in court yesterday charged in relation to alleged illegal turf cutting.

By Michelle Hennessy Friday 10 May 2013, 3:13 PM

May 10th 2013, 3:13 PM 19,462 Views 156 Comments

https://jrnl.ie/903688

Independent TD Luke 'Ming' Flanagan.

Image: Niall Carson/PA Archive

Independent TD Luke 'Ming' Flanagan.

Image: Niall Carson/PA Archive

INDEPENDENT TD LUKE ‘Ming’ Flanagan has challenged the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan on the issue of the legality of turf cutting, saying it is time for him to “either put up or shut up”.

Flanagan’s comments come after two men appeared in Listowel District Court yesterday charged in related to alleged illegal turf cutting on a bog in Kerry last year.

The men are being supported by the Irish Turf Cutters and Contractors Association (TCCA) including Flanagan, and speaking to TheJournal.ie today, the TD said members will be “vindicating their rights by cutting turf again this year”.

Flanagan hit out at Minister Deenihan, who has previously said that the Roscommon-South Leitrim TD is breaking the law by cutting turf himself in Cloonchambers bog and accused him of encouraging others to break the law.

“If I am breaking the law then why have I not been arrested?” Flanagan said. “It is long overdue for the minister to either put up or shut up.”

Related: Stanley: Vital that progress is made on turf cutting>
Read: Almost €3.5m paid out for turf cutting compensation since 2011>

#Open journalism No news is bad news Support The Journal

Your contributions will help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you

Support us now

Short URL

About the author:

About the author

Michelle Hennessy

@michellehtweet

michelle@thejournal.ie

See more articles by Michelle Hennessy

Contribute to this story:

Send a Correction

COMMENTS (156)

∞

About Us

Corrections

Report Content

Policies

TheJournal.ie supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, PH: (01) 6489130, Lo-Call 1890 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie

Please note that TheJournal.ie uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide services and advertising. For more information on cookies please refer to our cookies policy.

News images provided by Press Association and Photocall Ireland unless otherwise stated. Irish sport images provided by Inpho Photography unless otherwise stated. Wire service provided by Associated Press.

Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for user created content, posts, comments, submissions or preferences. Users are reminded that they are fully responsible for their own created content and their own posts, comments and submissions and fully and effectively warrant and indemnify Journal Media in relation to such content and their ability to make such content, posts, comments and submissions available. Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Luke 'Ming' Flanagan tells Minister Deenihan to 'put up or shut up'

Flanagan hit out at the minister following the appearance of two men in court yesterday charged in relation to alleged illegal turf cutting.