Michael Flanagan (councillor)

Alderman Michael Flanagan (29 September 1833 – 16 October 1931), known as "the Alderman", was a farmer, market gardener, justice of the peace and Irish nationalist politician and long-time member of Dublin Corporation, setting the record for the longest tenure on the corporation at that time, retiring at the age of 86.[1]

A member of the corporation from 1884 to 1919, Flanagan is said to have turned down the Lord Mayoralty of Dublin in 1900 because as a nationalist he did not wish to receive Queen Victoria on her visit to Ireland.[2] He was listed as a justice of the peace as of 1894.[3]

Flanagan was the father of the practical joker Willie "The Bird" Flanagan, and of Louisa Flanagan, wife of the First President of the Executive Council W. T. Cosgrave.[4] As a landowner and market gardener, Flanagan supplied much of Dublin with vegetables.[5]

Flanagan and his family lived in an 1820 house off the South Circular Road,[6] Portmahon House, Rialto.[7] He owned extensive lands around South-West County Dublin. In 2014 Dublin City Council named a community garden on the site of the former Fatima Mansions as "Flanagan's Fields" after him.[8]