Flanagan alleges that he was defamed in an Irish Times interview with Frank Feighan (Gareth Chaney Collins)

INDEPENDENT MEP Luke “Ming” Flanagan has launched a defamation action against The Irish Times over an interview with a Fine Gael TD in which he was accused of bringing a new “nastiness” to politics.

Flanagan, a former Roscommon TD, filed the case in the High Court last week alleging that the interview with Frank Feighan, a former constituency rival, defamed him.

In the article Feighan explained the reasons behind his decision to not seek re-election in the forthcoming general election. The Fine Gael TD complained about a growing vindictiveness that politicians face from members of the public.

An unnamed party colleague was quoted as saying that the reaction Feighan had faced for supporting the closure of Roscommon County Hospital’s 24-hour emergency department was “like something