Seán Lynch (politician)

Seán Lynch MLA (Irish: Seán Ó Loingsigh; born 11 January 1954) is an Irish republican Sinn Féin politician and a former MLA for the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. He was a former Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader in the Maze Prison (known as Long Kesh by Irish republicans).[3]

Seán Lynch
MLA
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Fermanagh & South Tyrone
In office
7 May 2011 – July 2021
Preceded byGerry McHugh
Succeeded byAine Murphy
Councillor on Fermanagh District Council
In office
10 May 2011 – 11 September 2011
Preceded byPat Cox[1]
Succeeded byTommy Maguire[2]
ConstituencyEnniskillen Electoral Area
Personal details
Born (1954-01-11) 11 January 1954
Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partySinn Féin
ProfessionPolitician
Known forOfficer Commanding Provisional IRA prisoners in Long Kesh
WebsiteOfficial webpage

Lynch previously served as Chairman of Sinn Féin in Fermanagh and as a senior member of the district policing partnership in the county.[4] Lynch previously stood for the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency in the 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election but was unsuccessful.[5][6][7][8][9] Lynch was a councillor on Fermanagh District Council prior to his election to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Background

Born in 1954 into a Roman Catholic farming family in rural County Fermanagh, he is the eldest of 12 children and was raised near Lisnaskea,[10] where he currently lives. One of his sisters, Ruth Lynch, is a Fermanagh District Council Sinn Féin councillor. Another, Mary Lynch, wrote The Long Road Home.[11][12]

Provisional IRA membership

In April 1986 Lynch was seriously wounded and fellow IRA member Séamus McElwaine was shot dead when the SAS opened fire on them as they prepared to ambush a passing army patrol with a land mine on the Lisnaskea to Roslea road. Lynch was shot by the SAS and seriously wounded, after which he was arrested. After four months in Musgrave Park Hospital Military Wing, he was transferred to Crumlin Road Jail.[13][14]

In December 1986, he was sentenced to 25 years for possession of explosives and a rifle and transferred to the Maze Prison. He was released in October 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, after serving 12 years of his 25-year sentence.[15]

Séamus McElwaine Inquest

In January 1993 an inquest jury returned a verdict that McElwaine had been unlawfully killed. The jury ruled the SAS soldiers had opened fire without giving McElwaine a chance to surrender, and that he was actually shot dead five minutes after being wounded. The Director of Public Prosecutions requested a full report on the inquest from the RUC. There were no prosecutions based on the findings.[16][17][18]

Lynch speaking with Francie Molloy MLA and Michelle Gildernew MP MLA in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, May 2011

Political career following prison release

Since his release from prison Lynch has worked as a senior member for Sinn Féin and was on the officer board of what was then the Sinn Féin Six-County Cúige and subsequently as a Six-County representative on the party’s ruling Ard Chomhairle. He was director of elections for Michelle Gildernew when she won the Westminster seat of Fermanagh and South Tyrone for the party in 2005.[19] Lynch also sat on Fermanagh District Policing Partnership.[20]

Northern Ireland Assembly Election 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2017

Lynch stood as a candidate in the 2007 Assembly Election. Lynch polled 4,704 votes, failing to win a seat. He was selected by Sinn Féin in Fermanagh and South Tyrone to stand again as a candidate in the 2011 Assembly Election on 5 May 2011. Lynch was elected on 7 May 2011. He was elected to Fermanagh District Council on 10 May 2011.[21]

In line with Sinn Féin's policy of not holding dual mandates Lynch resigned from his council seat to allow a party member to take his place on the council. In September 2011, Tommy Maguire was co-opted onto Fermanagh District Council[22][23]

Lynch retained his seat in the 2016 Assembly Election with 4,782 first preference votes.[24] He again retained his seat in the 2017 Assembly Election with an increased first preference vote of 6,254.[25] In March 2021 it was announced that Sean Lynch would be stepping down from his role as an MLA[26] with Aine Murphy replacing him in July 2021.[27]

See also

References
  1. "Fermanagh District Council :: The Council :: Councillor Profiles - Enniskillen". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  2. "Sinn Féin monitor Enniskillen Loyalist Band Parade". Fermanaghsouthtyronesf.com. 26 September 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  3. "Ex-IRa leader takes up policing role". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  4. "DPP appointees named to oversee police - Belfast Newsletter". Newsletter.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  5. "Elections: Assembly Election (NI)". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. 7 March 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  6. "CAIN: Politics: Elections: List of Candidates to the Northern Ireland Assembly Election Wednesday 7 March 2007". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  7. "Northern Ireland Assembly -Fermanagh & South Tyrone 07". Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  8. Dr Nicholas Whyte (14 March 2010). "Fermanagh and South Tyrone 2007". Ark.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  9. "BBC NEWS, Election 2007, Fermanagh & South Tyrone". BBC News.
  10. "News". An Phoblacht. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  11. "One girl's long journey back from trauma (From Impartial Reporter)". Impartialreporter.com. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  12. "Londubh Books | The Long Road Home". Londubh.ie. 10 September 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  13. "Sinn Fein MLA Lynch was IRA man injured during SAS ambush where McElwaine was killed". The Irish News. 10 February 2016.
  14. Taylor, Max; Currie, P. M. (15 July 2011). Dissident Irish Republicanism. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781441154750 – via Google Books.
  15. "/ News / Roundup / Articles / Impartial Reporter". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
  16. "House of Commons Hansard Debates for 18 January 1993". House of Commons. 18 January 1993. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
  17. "United Kingdom/Northern Ireland Human Rights, 1993". U.S. Department of State. 31 January 1994. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
  18. "Amnesty International Report 1994 - United Kingdom". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  19. "SF's Michelle Gildernew retains Fermanagh after dramatic recount". Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  20. Taylor, Max; Currie, P. M. (15 July 2011). Dissident Irish Republicanism. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 9781441132215 – via Google Books.
  21. "Fermanagh South Tyrone Sinn Féin: Sean Lynch MLA". Fermanaghsouthtyronesf.com. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  22. "Fermanagh District Council :: The Council :: Councillor Profiles - Enniskillen". Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  23. "The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland". EONI. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  24. "Assembly Election (NI) Thursday 5 May 2016".
  25. "Fermanagh & South Tyrone Northern Ireland Assembly constituency".
  26. "Lynch to step down from Assembly role". 31 March 2021.
  27. "New Fermanagh South Tyrone MLA Áine Murphy co-opted into Lynch's seat".
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