Lynch, Jack (John Mary)

Irish politician, Taoiseach (prime minister) 1966–73 and 1977–79, and leader of Fianna Fáil 1966–79.

Lynch entered the Dáil (lower chamber of the Irish parliament) in 1948 and served in various ministerial capacities, before emerging as the surprise winner of the contest to succeed Lemass as Fianna Fáil leader in 1966. Lynch continued the conciliatory policies of his predecessor towards Northern Ireland, visiting O'Neill in Belfast in December 1967, and receiving the Northern Irish premier in Dublin the following month. The renewed violence in the North however destabilized Lynch's government, and its internal conflicts burst into the public arena in May 1970, when Lynch sacked his finance minister, Charles Haughey, and his minister of agriculture and fisheries, Neil Blaney, for allegedly using government money to import arms for the IRA. There was also a political aspect to the affair, since both Haughey and Blaney harboured leadership aspirations, and hoped to reveal Lynch's weakness on the Northern Ireland issue. Lynch narrowly lost the election of 1973, but regained power in 1977. However, serious economic mismanagement by his government, and the reemergence of personal and political tensions within the party led to Lynch's sudden decision to resign in 1979.