Finian Lynch

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Finian Lynch (Irish: Fionán Ó Loingsigh; 1889–1966) was a senior Irish Cumann na nGaedhael/Fine Gael politician.

Finian Lynch was born in Caherciveen, County Kerry in 1889. He qualified as a national school teacher in 1912 and joined the Gaelic League the same year. He was a founder member of the Irish Volunteers in 1913 and was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood that same year. Lynch fought in the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916 and was interned in prison in England and Wales until the general amnesty in late 1917.

Upon his release Lynch resumed his paramilitary activities and was elected as a Sinn Féin Member of Parliament for Kerry South in the 1918 Westminster Election. He was re-elected to Dáil Éireann as a Sinn Féin Teachta Dála for Kerry–Limerick West in the 1921 General Election. He supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty like almost all IRB members and during the Dáil Debates criticised some Anti-Treaty TDs. During the Civil War he fought with the Irish Free State Army and rose to the rank of Brigadier. He left the Army in 1923 to resume his political career. He was re-elected at each subsequent general election as a Cumann na nGaedhael and later Fine Gael deputy for the constituencies of Kerry from 1923 to 1937 and Kerry South from 1937 until he resigned his seat in 1944.

Lynch served as Minister for Fisheries from 1922 to 1932. After the entry to power of Fianna Fáil he qualified as a barrister and remained a TD until 1944 when he resigned his seat on his appointment as a judge.

[edit] Political career

Preceded by: Michael Hayes	Minister for Education Apr 1922–Aug 1922	Succeeded by: Eoin MacNeill
Preceded by: ---	Minister without portfolio Aug 1922–Dec 1922	Succeeded by: ---
Preceded by: Newly Created Office	Minister for Fisheries 1922–1932	Succeeded by: P.J. Ruttledge