Independent TD Luke "Ming" Flanagan has quit smoking cannabis in Ireland,
but says he will still campaign for its legalisation.
The Roscommon-South Leitrim TD, who took the first seat on the fourth count in the recent general election, told The Irish Times he took the decision to protect his wife and two children.
“I’ve looked at my options, and I can continue to smoke and face a six month prison sentence and lose my seat in the Dáil or I can stop,” Mr Flanagan said.
“It is not an ideal situation, but 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.”
“The Garda have to do their job. However, I will still campaign for legalisation of cannabis,” he said.
Mr Flanagan was elected mayor of Roscommon in 2010. He first stood in a general election as a protest candidate against his then landlord, Fianna Fáil TD Frank Fahey, in 1997 in Galway West. He polled 5,000 votes in the 1999 European elections in Connacht-Ulster.
He has publicly criticised the influence of the drinks lobby, and has highlighted the rights of turf-cutters affected by the EU-led ban on harvesting in 32 raised bogs. He is also committed to social justice issues, and to local authority reform.