Luke 'Ming' Flanagan has announced that he is "giving up the gange".

Speaking on 'The Last Word' on Today Fm, he said: “If I want to get cannabis legalised the best place for me to do that in Dáil Éireann … eventually I will be taken out of the Dáil and people who want cannabis legalised will no longer have a voice in the Dáil.”

Deputy Flanagan’s decision follows an editorial in the Garda Review magazine, which warned the justice system would become a mockery unless action was taken against the Independent TD.

He said that he took the decision to protect his family.

“It would not be good for my family for the gardaí to be coming around to my house and annoying us about this.

“It is a tough decision, it is a difficult decision but it is the only logical decision I can make. My children are more important to me than anyone else on this planet and my wife equally so.”

Deputy Flanagan has continuously campaigned for the legalisation of cannabis and he is surprised by recent calls for his prosecution. In 2001, he posted near 500 joints to various TDs and journalists.

“After I did that I wrote to the DPP asking if they would be prosecuting me for supply, possession and cultivation. I received a letter back from the DPP informing me no prosecution would take place.”

Deputy Flanagan claims that he is not the only TD to have used cannabis.