1. John Mary Lynch was an Irish Fianna Fail politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979.
87 Facts About Jack Lynch
1. 2.
Jack Lynch was Leader of Fianna Fail from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, Minister for Finance from 1965 to 1966, Minister for Industry and Commerce from 1959 to 1965, Minister for Education 1957 to 1959, Minister for the Gaeltacht from March 1957 to June 1957, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Lands and Parliamentary Secretary to the Government from 1951 to 1954.
3.
Jack Lynch served as a Teachta Dala from 1948 to 1981.
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Jack Lynch was the third leader of Fianna Fail from 1966 until 1979, succeeding Sean Lemass.
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Jack Lynch was the last party leader to secure an overall majority in the Dail for his party.
6.
Jack Lynch played hurling with his local club Glen Rovers and with the Cork senior inter-county team from 1936 until 1950.
7.
Jack Lynch played Gaelic football with his local club St Nicholas' and with the Cork senior inter-county team from 1936 until 1946.
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Jack Lynch was later named at midfield on the Hurling Team of the Century and the Hurling Team of the Millennium.
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John Mary Jack Lynch was born on 15 August 1917, in Shandon, on the north side of Cork, and grew up in the nearby area of Blackpool.
10.
Jack Lynch's father Daniel Lynch was a tailor, and his mother Nora was a seamstress.
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Jack Lynch was the youngest of five boys and fifth of seven children, with four elder brothers and two younger sisters, Jack, as he was known, was generally regarded as the "wild boy" of the family.
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Jack Lynch was educated at St Vincent's Convent on Peacock Lane, and later at the famous "North Mon", the North Monastery Christian Brothers School.
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When Jack Lynch was just thirteen years old his mother died suddenly.
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Jack Lynch sat his Leaving Certificate in 1936, after which he moved to Dublin and worked with the Dublin District Milk Board, before returning to Cork to take up a position in the Circuit Court Office.
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Jack Lynch began working at the Cork Circuit Court as a clerk at the age of nineteen.
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Jack Lynch's work in the court ignited his interest in law and in 1941 he began a night course at University College Cork studying law, where he was a member of the Law Society.
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In 1945, Jack Lynch was called to the Bar and had to decide whether to remain in his civil service job or practice as a barrister.
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Jack Lynch made the decision to move back to Cork and began a private practice on the Cork Circuit.
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From an early age, Jack Lynch showed an enormous interest and great accomplishment as a sportsman.
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Jack Lynch played his club hurling with the famous Glen Rovers club in Blackpool.
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Jack Lynch enjoyed much success at underage levels, winning back-to-back minor county championship titles in 1933 and in 1934 as captain.
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That same year Jack Lynch won his first senior county hurling championship with "the Glen".
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Jack Lynch finished off his club hurling career by winning a further three county medals in succession in 1948,1949 and 1950.
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Jack Lynch played club football with "the Glen's" sister club St Nicholas.
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Jack Lynch won an intermediate county title in 1937, before adding a senior county football championship medal to his collection in 1938.
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Jack Lynch won his second county football medal with "St Nick's" in 1941.
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In 1940 and 1941, Jack Lynch played as Cork won back-to-back National Hurling League titles, with him captaining the first of those.
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In 1942, Jack Lynch was selected as Cork hurling captain .
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Jack Lynch was one of the heroes of the team who played in all four finals.
30.
In 1946, the Cork hurlers returned to their winning ways and Jack Lynch claimed a fifth provincial hurling title.
31.
On that September day in 1946, Jack Lynch made Irish sporting history by becoming the first player to win six consecutive senior All-Ireland medals.
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Jack Lynch captured a sixth Munster SHC medal in 1947, before going on to play in his seventh All-Ireland SHC final in less than a decade.
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However, Jack Lynch ended up on the losing side by a single point.
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Jack Lynch had retired from inter-county football several years earlier.
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In 1946, Jack Lynch had his first involvement in politics when he was asked by his local Fianna Fail cumann to stand for the Dail in a by-election.
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Jack Lynch declined on this occasion, due to his lack of political experience, but indicated that he would be interested in standing in the next general election.
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In 1947, Jack Lynch refused a similar offer to stand by the new political party Clann na Poblachta.
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In 1951, Fianna Fail were back in power and Jack Lynch was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Government, with special responsibility for Gaeltacht areas.
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Jack Lynch was promoted to cabinet as Minister for Education, as well as holding the Gaeltacht portfolio for a short while.
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Jack Lynch introduced innovative legislation, such as raising the school leaving age; reducing school class sizes; removing a ban on married women working as teachers and allowing the Jewish skull cap to be worn but only from the age of 12.
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Jack Lynch was promoted to Lemass' old portfolio as Minister for Industry and Commerce.
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However, having replaced such a political giant, Jack Lynch felt that his own scope for change was severely limited.
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Jack Lynch was described as not being the most innovative of ministers but was particularly attentive when it came to legislation and detail.
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Jack Lynch was noted for his astuteness in solving several industrial disputes during his tenure at the department.
45.
The big change was the retirement of such political heavyweights as James Ryan and Sean MacEntee, with Jack Lynch taking over from the former as Minister for Finance.
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One occasion in which Jack Lynch's authority was seen to be undermined as Minister for Finance was when the Minister for Education, Donogh O'Malley, announced that the government would provide free secondary school education for all.
47.
None of the candidates that were being offered to the party seemed particularly appealing and Lemass' made one last attempt to coax either Hillery or Jack Lynch to join the race as a compromise candidate.
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Hillery remained adamant that he did not want the leadership and eventually Jack Lynch allowed his name to go forward.
49.
Colley refused to withdraw and when it was put to a ballot Jack Lynch comfortably defeated him by 52 votes to 19.
50.
Jack Lynch was thus elected Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fail on 10 November 1966.
51.
Jack Lynch took particular exception to the title "Interim Taoiseach" or "Reluctant Taoiseach".
52.
Jack Lynch had no intention of stepping aside after a few years in favour of one of the other candidates who had been unsuccessful against him in 1966.
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Jack Lynch was reluctant to name his first cabinet.
54.
Jack Lynch believed that the existing members of the government owed their positions to Lemass, and so he retained the entire cabinet, albeit with some members moving to different departments.
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Jack Lynch adopted a chairman-like approach to government allowing his ministers a free run in their respective departments.
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Jack Lynch continued the modernising and liberal approach that Lemass had begun, albeit at a slower pace.
57.
Jack Lynch continued Lemass's approach in regard to relations with Northern Ireland.
58.
In December 1967, Jack Lynch travelled to Belfast where he met with Prime Minister Terence O'Neill, for the first time at Stormont.
59.
The majority of the cabinet opposed military intervention, and Jack Lynch took no such action, though he commissioned a study named Exercise Armageddon.
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Jack Lynch's government was expected to collapse following the Arms Crisis; however, it survived until 1973.
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Jack Lynch had wanted to call the general election for the end of 1972 events had conspired against him and the date was set for February 1973.
62.
Jack Lynch's government was defeated by the National Coalition of Fine Gael and the Labour Party at the 1973 general election.
63.
Liam Cosgrave was elected Taoiseach and Jack Lynch found himself on the opposition benches for the first time in sixteen years.
64.
Jack Lynch had finally gained complete control of the party, having neutralised his rivals for leadership during the Arms Crisis, and initiated Fianna Fail's electoral comeback by securing the election of its candidate, Erskine H Childers, as President of Ireland in 1973, defeating the odds-on favourite, the National Coalition's Tom O'Higgins of Fine Gael.
65.
In 1974, Jack Lynch appointed Ruairi Brugha as spokesman of Northern Ireland, now seen as not a surprise with that of Fianna Fail's attitude on cross-border issues.
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In 1975, Jack Lynch allowed Charles Haughey to return to his Front Bench as Spokesperson on Health.
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The document was an echo of Fianna Fail's republican origins, and although Jack Lynch was not happy with it, he did not stop it.
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Jack Lynch himself received the biggest personal vote in the state.
69.
Early on in his second term as Taoiseach, Jack Lynch decided that he would not lead Fianna Fail into another general election campaign.
70.
When Jack Lynch returned he was confronted openly by Sile de Valera, Bill Loughnane, a noted hardline Republican backbencher, along with Tom McEllistrim, a member of Haughey's gang of five, at a parliamentary party meeting.
71.
Jack Lynch stated that the British did not have permission to overfly the border.
72.
At this stage, Jack Lynch's position had become untenable, with supporters of Haughey caucusing opinion within the party.
73.
George Colley, the man whom Jack Lynch saw as his successor, went to him and encouraged him to resign sooner.
74.
Colley was convinced that he had enough support to defeat the other likely candidate, Charles Haughey, and that Jack Lynch should resign early to catch his opponents off guard.
75.
Jack Lynch agreed and resigned as leader of Fianna Fail on 5 December 1979, assured that Colley had the votes necessary to win.
76.
However, Haughey and his supporters had been preparing for months to take over the leadership and Jack Lynch's resignation came as no surprise.
77.
Jack Lynch narrowly defeated Colley in the leadership contest and succeeded Lynch as Taoiseach.
78.
Jack Lynch remained in the Dail as a TD until he retired from politics at the 1981 general election.
79.
Jack Lynch became a director on the boards of a number of companies, including Irish Distillers, Smurfit and Hibernian Insurance.
80.
Jack Lynch embarked on a good deal of foreign travel.
81.
Jack Lynch was conferred with the freedom of his native city of Cork.
82.
Jack Lynch continued to speak on political issues, particularly in favour of Desmond O'Malley at the time of his expulsion from Fianna Fail.
83.
Jack Lynch declined to accept nominations to become President of Ireland, a position he had little interest in.
84.
Jack Lynch continued to be honoured by, among others, the Gaelic Athletic Association and various other organisations.
85.
On 20 October 1999, Jack Lynch died in the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook, Dublin at the age of 82.
86.
Jack Lynch was honoured with a state funeral which was attended by the President of Ireland Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, former Taoisigh John Bruton, Albert Reynolds and Charles Haughey, and various political persons from all parties.
87.
Jack Lynch has been described as "the most popular Irish politician since Daniel O'Connell".