Seamus Lynch
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This article is part of SpinWatch's Northern Ireland Portal. |
Seamus Lych is a former regional chairman of the Workers' Party in Northern Ireland.[1]
Lynch joined the IRA in Belfast in 1965.[2] he was captured in October 1971 and interned in Long Kesh.[3] As the Official IRA Camp O/C he encouraged reading and education classes.[4]
Lynch was the target of a number of attacks in early 1975, during the Official IRA's feud with the IRSP.[5] In April that year, according to authors Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, he became the Belfast O/C following the IRSP's killing of Billy McMillen.[6]
Lynch was elected as a Belfast City Councillor in May 1977.[7] In seeking to gain the trust of unionists on the council, he began to co-operate with Hugh Smyth, an independent unionist from the Shankill, with links to the UVF. He also built up relationships with Unionist MP John Carson and Education Secretary Lord Melchett.[8] In the winter of that year he met Gerry Adams at Clonard Monastery on several occasions to mediate local disputes.[9]
In 1978, Lynch became Vice-President of Sinn Féin - The Workers' Party and chairman of its northern arm, Republican Clubs - The Workers' Party.[10] According to Hanley and Millar, he became northern commander of the Official IRA at around the same time, as well as remaining Belfast O/C.[11]
In 1985, Lynch met UDA commander John McMichael at a function in Belfast. They had further meetings in 1986, at which Lynch called for an end to sectarian killings and commented on the UDA's political thinking.[12]
In March 1986, Lynch appeared on RTE's Today Tonight to respond to allegations by RUC Chief Superintendent Bertie McCaffrey and the SDLP's Brian Feeney.[13]
Lynch resigned from the Workers' Party on 21 February 1992.[14] He stood in the 1992 Westminster election for New Agenda, the organisation that would become known as Democratic Left.[15]
According to Dean Godson, Lynch was a major influence on Gary Kent's thinking on Ireland.[16]
Notes
- ↑ W.D. Flackes and Sydney Elliot, Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1986-1988, Blackstaff Press, p.176.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.34.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.170.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.210.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, pp.291-292.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.298.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.379.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.380.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.380.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.385.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.44.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.497.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.475.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.587.
- ↑ Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, The Lost Revolution: The Official IRA and the Workers' Party, Penguin Ireland, 2009, p.589.
- ↑ Himself Alone, by Dean Godson, Harper Perennial, 2004, p263.
