Monday, May 31, 1999
Independents share
interest in 'grass'
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Euro election candidates Father Liam Sharkey and Luke "Ming the Merciless" Flanagan may appear to be poles apart on the campaign trail in Connacht-Ulster, but the pair has more in common than meets the eye.
Both are running as Independents; they both have websites; and both have Roscommon links. Fourthly, both have admitted to an interest in marijuana.
Last week Liam Sharkey silenced a gathering with his admission that he grew marijuana in 1974, when he cultivated it accidentally in Milltown, Co Galway. "I am a keen gardener, I had planted birdseed, and that is what it produced," he confirmed to this newspaper.
Now dubbed a "dope-growing priest" by the Galway Advertiser, he doesn't think the confession will have done him harm. "I was just trying to lighten the atmosphere in a very serious and heavy debate," he said.
Luke "Ming" Flanagan shared another platform with the priest last week. Along with Minister of State Éamon Ó Cuív, the pair addressed a noisy meeting hosted by the Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) Alliance in Moycullen, Co Galway. Also present was a representative of Euro Independent candidate, Dana Rosemary Scallon.
The SAC Alliance is not running its own candidate for Europe. "We can't afford it," says secretary Síle O'Connor - but it has put those who are out on the hustings under the spotlight. The alliance now draws support from people with an interest in raised bogs in seven counties. It supports the concept of the EU Habitats Directive, but opposes how the Government is implementing it.
"The right to cut turf is not our main issue," Ms O'Connor emphasises. "We support conservation of raised bogs, but we want to be trusted as guardians of the habitat ourselves - and we are concerned with keeping our property rights." The alliance says the approach taken by Dúchas, the Heritage Service, in trying to implement SACs is "intimidatory".
At the Moycullen meeting Éamon Ó Cuív was asked to withdraw Dúchas newspaper advertisements uchas, and was told that local consultation must take place before designation. The social and economic consequences of SAC designation must be taken into account, the alliance said, and it called for a suspension of the EU directive until this takes place.
The alliance says the Government's approach is part of a "master plan to empty the countryside into urban centres". It believes that both Luke "Ming the Merciless" Flanagan and Liam Sharkey appreciate its difficulties, as does Dana Rosemary Scallon.
Still smarting over her "occasional political tourist" label by sitting MEP Pat Cox, Dana has been busy issuing press releases on daily issues, such as the row over the working hours of junior hospital doctors. Meanwhile, Paul Campbell, the Natural Law Party candidate in Connacht-Ulster, has been busy focusing on international issues and is relying on the party's website in his campaign.
The Natural Law Party believes in a truly united, and disease-free, Europe - and it has proposed that peace could be created in Kosovo with help of 7,000 yogic flyers.
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