Seamus Lynch | |
---|---|
Member of Belfast City Council | |
In office 15 May 1985 –19 May 1993 | |
Preceded by | District created |
Succeeded by | Joe Austin |
Constituency | Oldpark |
In office 18 May 1977 –20 May 1981 | |
Preceded by | Samuel Millar |
Succeeded by | Fergus O'Hare |
Constituency | Belfast Area G |
Personal details | |
Born | 1945 (age 79–80) Belfast,Northern Ireland |
Political party |
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Other political affiliations | Sinn Féin (1968–1970) |
Seamus Lynch (born 1945) is a former Irish republican and socialist politician.
Born in North Belfast, [1] Lynch became a republican activist around the start of The Troubles, and sided with the Official wing of Sinn Féin in the split of 1970. [2] He was interned from October 1971 until the following year. [1] He was a strong supporter of the Official IRA's ceasefire in 1972 and Official Sinn Féin's vocal socialism. [2] As a result, he became active in the Republican Clubs movement, and stood for the organisation in Belfast North at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election. He received only 1.7% of the first preference votes cast and was not elected. He stood again for the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, but his vote dropped to just 1.3%. He was elected to Belfast City Council in 1977, representing Area G, but lost his seat in 1981. [3]
Lynch next stood in the Westminster seat of Belfast North at the 1979 general election, increasing his vote to 4.5%, the best result for Republican Clubs in Northern Ireland, and at the 1982 Northern Ireland Assembly election, he increased his share to 7.1%. [4]
In 1982, Republican Clubs was renamed the Workers' Party and Lynch became its Northern Chairman and national Vice-President [2] He then stood in the 1983 general election, receiving 5.7% of the vote, [5] but did less well in the Northern Ireland-wide European Parliament election in 1984, taking only 1.3% and seventh position of eight candidates. [6] He was re-elected to Belfast City Council in 1985, representing Oldpark, and held his seat in 1989.
Lynch's best result in a Westminster election came when he took 11.8% of the vote in a three-way contest in the 1986 Belfast North by-election. At the following year's general election, he dropped back to 8.3%. [5] He also stood in the 1989 European election, placing eighth out of ten candidates. [7]
In 1992, Lynch sided with the split from the Workers' Party which produced Democratic Left, and he became the new group's main figure in Northern Ireland. [8] Standing for the new organisation, at the 1992 UK general election his vote fell to 3.7% [5] and he lost his council seat the following year. [9] His last contest for the party was heading its North Belfast list for the Northern Ireland Forum election in 1996, but the list took only 123 votes. [10] Democratic Left dissolved in 1999, its members invited to join the Irish Labour Party but not permitted to organise in Northern Ireland. [11]
In 2003, Lynch was elected Chairman of the North Belfast sub-group of the Belfast District Policing Partnership. [12] He was Public Affairs Officer with Age NI until 2012. He now works as Public Affairs Manager for Age Sector Platform and is the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Pensioners Parliament.