Fionán Lynch (; 17 March 1889 – 3 June 1966) was an Irish revolutionary, barrister, politician and judge of the Circuit Court from 1944 to 1959, Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann from 1938 to 1939, Minister for Lands and Fisheries from 1928 to 1932, Minister for Fisheries from 1922 to 1928, Minister without portfolio from August 1922 to December 1922 and Minister for Education from April 1922 to August 1922. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1918 to 1944.
Early life Lynch was born on 17 March 1889 in Cahersiveen, County Kerry. He was the seventh of eleven children to his parents Finian Lynch and Ellie McCarthy, the master and mistress of the new national school in the townland of Kilmakerrin, near Cahersiveen, in County Kerry.
His father, Finian Lynch, was the younger son of Partalan Lynch, a stonemason, farmer and hedge school teacher, who had purchased some land from the O’Connell estate at Kenneigh in Kerry, between Cahersiveen and Waterville on the Ballinskelligs side of the road and north of the river Inny. His elder brother became a stonemason but Finian trained as a teacher in Dublin. His mother, Ellie McCarthy was the daughter of the teachers in the national school at Spunkane, near Waterville. She was born in 1853 and went to Dublin to train as a teacher.
Education He grew up bilingual, speaking mostly in Irish at home, but in English at school. He was initially educated in the parent's school in Kilmakerrin but subsequently went to St Brendan's College, Killarney and then, at the age of 14 in about September 1903, to the Holy Ghost Fathers School at Rockwell College, County Tipperary. In 1907, he finished for one year with the Holy Ghost Fathers in Blackrock College, Dublin. He had planned to study medicine, but in 1907, when he was 18 years old his father died and he did not have the money to pursue this career path.
Instead, when he was 18, he went to Swansea in Wales and taught in a parish school, not as a trained teacher, but as a well-educated young man, before returning to Ireland in 1909, where he started training as a teacher in St Patrick's College, Dublin. He graduated in 1911 as a primary school teacher and took up a teaching position in Dublin in April 1912, in St. Michan's School, Halston Street near North King Street, Dublin, by chance, within the area of his activity in 1916.
Munster Hotel
While in training he met and became a lifelong friend of Gearóid O'Sullivan, a fellow student from Skibbereen, County Cork. Both having got jobs in Dublin, they arranged to stay at the Munster Hotel (also known as "Grianan na nGaedheal" or "Aras na nGael"), 44 Mountjoy Street, Dublin, the hotel and lodgings run by his aunt Miss Myra McCarthy.Kerry’s Fighting Story 1916-21: Told by the Men Who Made It – chapter “A House of Memories”
This address would later become well known because Michael Collins,Michael Collins: A Biography” Author: Tim Pat Coogan and “Dublin in Rebellion a Directory 1913-1923” Author Joseph EA Connell Jnr. a first cousin of Gearóid O'Sullivan, stayed there after his release from Frongoch internment camp in December 1916 sharing a room with Lynch,Michael Collins: The Lost Leader: A biography of Irish politician Michael Collins by Margery Forester with it remaining his base until 1922. Even after Collins went on the run he would still call in for breakfast and to collect his laundry. According to Lynch it was probably the most raided house in Dublin during 1920. During 1918, the British spy Timothy Quinlisk stayed.
Gaelic League While in Swansea, and keen on fostering the Irish language both written and spoken, Lynch had formed a branch of the Gaelic League. When he returned to Dublin in 1912 Lynch, Gearóid O'Sullivan and his friend Diarmuid O'Hegarty joined the very active and influential Keating Branch of the Gaelic League, where IRB influence was strong. The chair of the branch was Cathal Brugha and Piaras Béaslaí was a member, with Seán Mac Diarmada a frequent visitor. Lynch, O'Sullivan and Ó Hegarty were soon brought onto the committee of the branch and undertook teaching of both adults and children.
Lynch proceeded to the Royal University of Ireland and University College Dublin, where he got a BA in Celtic studies in 1913 and a Higher Diploma in Education in 1914. He had a story about his BA in Celtic studies whereby the university was short of an examiner fluent in the Irish language and sought the help, probably of the Gaelic league. He was registered as a student as Finian Lynch, the anglicised version of his name, and the recommendation from the Gaelic league for a suitable examiner was one Fionán Ó Loingsigh.
Na hAisteoirí dramatic society Piaras Béaslaí established a dramatic society which was called Na hAisteoirí (The Actors) and all three joined. They undertook plays around the country at social events such as the Oireachtas. Lynch translated Molière's “Le Maladie Imaginaire”An Dochtúir Bréige. Fionán Ó Loingsigh do chur Gaedhilg air. https://nccb.tcd.ie/catalog/61091950r into the Irish language for the purpose.
During 1914 to 1915, they produced plays in Irish at intervals in Dublin and in the summer of 1914 they did a tour of Cork and Kerry producing plays in different towns each night and finishing off with two or three nights at the Oireachtas in Killarney. In July 1914, they were producing Irish plays at the Oireachtas in Drogheda and Seán Mac Diarmada insisted that they go ahead even though it clashed with the Howth gun running.
Irish Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood On 25 November 1913, Lynch, together with Gearóid O'Sullivan and Diarmuid O'Hegarty attended the meeting at the Rotunda Rink for the founding of the Irish Volunteers and they joined on that first night. Drilling started within a couple of weeks, at the Foresters Hall on Parnell Square (Russell Square at the time) and instructors were chosen and Lynch was chosen to train a squad. In summer 1914, there was the first election of volunteer officers and Lynch was elected 2nd lieutenant of F Company, which would be placed in 1st Battalion.
With the formation of the battalion the captain of F Company, Piaras Béaslaí, was promoted to second in command of the battalion and, as Sean (Jack) Shouldice who was the first lieutenant couldn't accept the captaincy, Lynch was promoted to captain of F Company. His friend from the Gaelic League Diarmuid Ó Hegarty was made second lieutenant.
Soon after this he was asked by his close friend Seán Mac Diarmada, along with Con Collins, to join the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The IRB supreme Council were trying to ensure volunteer officers were members of the brotherhood and the fact that he was already friendly with Seán MacDiarmada made him acceptable. He subsequently took the oath and was sworn in around spring 1915. He was allocated to the Circle in Gardiner Street, with Diarmuid Ó Hegarty and Gearoid O'Sullivan members of the same circle.
From late 1914, Lynch and the other members of the Irish Volunteers came under observation by the Dublin Metropolitan Police. At the time, Lynch was an assistant teacher in St. Michan's School, and at the beginning of 1916 the Commissioners of National Education notified the school that his activities were not compatible with his teaching duties. Lynch's schoolmaster told him that his salary would be withdrawn if he continued his involvement to which Lynch surprised him by replying that he would consult with his superior officers about it. He did so and was ordered by Tom McDonagh to lie low and formally sever his connections with the Volunteers. However, during this time he organised a Sunday morning training squad centre at the headquarters of the Gaelic League, 25 Parnell Square, for members whose positions made it impossible for them to be openly associated with the Volunteers.
However, he continued to attend the meetings of the battalion council, where he was told which area would be occupied by his company at the forthcoming rising.
1916 Easter Rising
Lynch fought in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916 in the Four Courts garrison with Commandant Edward Daly in North King Street.
On Holy Thursday he again went to the formation parade and re-took formal command of F Company. He was greeted back with cheers and excitement having previously told his men that he would be back to lead them when there was ‘anything doing’. On Easter Sunday Lynch and Gearoid O'Sullivan were at early Mass and got the Sunday Independent with the countermanding order and brought the bad news to Seán McDermott. The leaders were alerted, Lynch collecting Patrick Pearce from his home at Saint Enda's and a series of meetings were held through the day to late evening at Liberty Hall.The Easter Rising (Michael T. Foy and Brian Barton), page 30
The decision to proceed with the Easter Rising having been taken, the First Battalion mobilised in Blackhall Place on the morning of Easter Monday under the command of Commandant Ned Daly. Lynch was stationed in North King Street, adjacent to the Four Courts, having previously reconnoitred the area on Good Friday, they were rapidly able to occupy their chosen houses, create barricades and arrange food supplies in line with their original plans. F Company occupied the area from North King St. along Church St. to May Lane where it was joined to C Company which held the Four Courts.Crossfire: The Battle of the Four Courts, 1916 (1916 in Focus), Author: Paul O’Brien
There was little fighting in the area until the Wednesday 26 April, from which point the fighting was intense, especially along North King Street, until the order for surrender on the Saturday. His final engagement was on Saturday afternoon at the barricade on the May Lane side of the Franciscan Church, during which Seán Hurley was fatally wounded.
Lynch and his men, who were worn out from fighting, retreated to the Four Courts on Saturday evening where they received the order to surrender shortly afterwards.https://soundcloud.com/independent-ie-1916/1916-oral-history-fionan-lynch - 1916 Oral History: Fionan Lynch on the North King St fighting
Lynch, describing the valour of his men said: "I shall merely say that it was a great honour for any man to be their captain. As to how they fought, the words of our enemies at the time are the greatest tribute we could call for". General Sir John Maxwell said of North King Street: "With the one exception of the place at Ballsbridge, where the Sherwood Foresters were ambushed, this was by far the worst fighting that occurred in the whole of Dublin. At first the troops, coming from one end of the street, were repulsed. And it was only when we made an attack from both sides that we succeeded, after twenty-four hours fighting, in capturing the street. The casualties were very heavy during this fighting".
After the surrender Lynch was sent to Kilmainham Gaol, where, on 4 May 1916, Captain Lynch was tried by Field General Court martial, sentenced to death but immediately had his sentence commuted to 10 years penal servitude. He was transferred to Mountjoy Prison and then spent a period in Portland Jail, on Portland Isle off the Dorset coast, after which he was transferred to Lewis Prison. He was released in June 1917 with the other Irish prisoners under the general amnesty.
1917–1918 On his release in June 1917, his re‐employment was refused. He became an organiser for the Volunteer Executive, working in South Kerry, Armagh and Offaly, militarily as well as politically for Sinn Féin.Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising – A Centenary Record’ by Bridget McAuliffe, Mary McAuliffe and Owen O’Shea <https://kerry1916book.com/ > He continued to preach about the benefits of Ireland becoming a republic and was soon drafted to East Clare for electioneering in the hugely significant campaign for the July 1917 East Clare by-election where Éamon de Valera, for Sinn Féin, beat the Irish Parliamentary Party candidate.