Diarmuid O'Flynn
Diarmuid O'Flynn is the founder of the Ballyhea Says No campaign, and in 2014 began working as one of MEP Luke Ming Flanagan's parliamentary assistants. He was the Irish Examiners chief hurling correspondent until his relocation to Brussels in 2014. As founder of the Ballyhea Says No protest movement, which has been marching against payments to bondholders since 2011 and has been described by journalist Michael Clifford as "the conscience of a nation", O'Flynn has repeatedly called for debt justice for Ireland. Among those to have endorsed his position are the literary editor Fintan O'Toole and economists Constantin Gurdgiev and Stephen Kinsella.
In June 2011, he embarked on a three-day run then participated in a short march in Dublin before hand-delivering a petition to the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government. In August that year, he went on a seven-day “bread and water” fast, losing about a stone in weight.
He ran as a candidate in the South constituency at the 2014 European Parliament election, where he was considered a "dark horse" challenger, received the support of Ireland's top business website Finfacts and was eliminated on the 10th count. In November 2014, he was appointed parliamentary assistant to Midlands–North-West MEP Luke 'Ming' Flanagan.
