New MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan made a passionate speech in the EU Parliament yesterday, when addressing next EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker.

During his address, Ming stated that Ireland paid €67 billion, which amounts to 42pc of the European bank bailout for 1pc of the European population. He went on to say that Ireland wants that money back.

"I actually love Europe, but I despite the EU," the Roscommon native said to some gasps from the chamber.

“You said about Ireland ‘I think there must be some degree of retroactivity in the mechanism otherwise it will lose most of its sense.’ Well it seems that was just a line for your whole ‘Spitzenkandidat‘ process to convince people to vote for EPP candidates because since the election we have now been told that we will not get our money back," he said.

"So the question I have is this: why is the EU through the ECB continuing to demand its pound of flesh from Ireland on the odious promissory notes, the €31billion granted to bail out the two zombie banks and by extension several major banks across Europe and by further extension the Euro itself? Hasn’t Ireland sacrificed enough and suffered enough already?

"We were meant to be a community. A community does not starve its people to feed the banks. What are you going to do about it, oh great leader of the future?"

Speaking on Newstalk this morning, the former TD said Juncker did not yet reply to him.

"Sadly Junker didn’t respond. The questions were done in bunches. Mr Junker had been contacted by my office and through social media, because he’s quite active there when he’s looking for votes," he said.

Mr Flanagan added that he is enjoying his new position, when questioned if it would leave him wrecked and broken in years to come.

"When it comes to being wrecked and broken, after three and a half years in the Dáil, I was wrecked and broken," he said.

"The move from national politics to European politics isn’t quite is brutal. I’m enjoying it."

Irish Independent