Irish MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan is hoping a mishap that saw him addressing the European Parliament in his underpants will highlight the point he was making.
The Midlands–North-West representative did not appear to realise he could be seen without his trousers when addressing the EU Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee by video-link yesterday.
On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, he laughed off the fashion faux-pas saying: “Such are the dangers of working from home.”
“I put on my shirt about five minutes before I asked the question because I said to myself, ‘I might look a bit better with my shirt on,’” he said.
“Some people might find it hard to believe that I would ever think along those lines but, as anyone knows, a pair of shorts and a shirt don’t go very well together if you can see the bottom half of your body.
“I put my iPad in landscape rather than portrait – but such are the dangers of working from home.”
Ming rocking the shirt & shorts vibe. One of the great things about following .@lukeming is you get a feeling for the institution & his passion for getting things done (whether you support him politically, or not) pic.twitter.com/wFkzUr7bsA
— Dr Robert Bohan Artist (@RobertBohan) June 2, 2020
He said he had just returned from a run before addressing his colleagues and was rubbing his legs because his hip gets “a little bit sore” after exercise.
Mr Flanagan expressed his hope that the mishap would drum up some attention for the point he was trying to make to the committee.
“When is the last time you ever heard anyone talking about what happened in the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee in the European Parliament?” he asked. “Even though there is about €1.6bn spent in Ireland every year on it.”
“So, from that point of view, it is good to get it aired.”
Working from home
He also said he would support a long-term change to the way the parliament works – with online meetings and voting made a permanent feature.
“I have to say, overall, working from home suits me an awful lot better,” he said.
“I get to see my children more often, I get to attend way more meetings, my carbon footprint is through the floor, my expenses are down to zero and my productivity is up,” he said.
“So, if they could ever continue this into the future and let us vote and work remotely, I have to say I find it very effective – albeit with a few glitches as you can see.”
You can listen back to the full interview here:
