 Kevin
Lynch—by Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh On 23rd May 1981 — the day after Patsy O Hara and Ray Mc Creesh died — Kevin Lynch, a 25-year-old INLA Volunteer from Dungiven (North Derry), became the eighth republican POW to join the hunger strike for political status. Kevin, the youngest of eight children, was born 25 May 1956 to Paddy and Bridget ‘Bridie’ Lynch. The Lynches lived in the nationalist town of Dungiven, which was garrisoned by the RUC and the BA. While growing up, Kevin had a great passion for Gaelic football, hurling, and he was also a boxer with the St. Canice’s Club. Kevin's father was a builder by trade, and Kevin, at age 15, left school and began to work alongside his father as a bricklayer. At age 16, Kevin joined three of his brothers — Michael, Patsy and Gerard — in England to work in Bedford and surrounding towns; he returned Dungiven in August 1976.
Then following an ambush outside Dungiven in November 1976, in which an RUC man was slightly injured, the RUC moved against those it suspected to be INLA activists in the town. Kevin was one of those arrested during these round-ups. He was arrested on 2 December 1976, along with Sean Coyle, Séamas McGrandles, and Kevin's schoolmate Liam McCloskey, with whom he was later to share an H-Block cell. In early December 1976, Kevin was ‘remanded in custody by a special court’. The string of charges included conspiracy to disarm members of the enemy forces, taking part in a punishment shooting, and the taking of ‘legally held’ shotguns. Kevin spent a year on remand in Crumlin Road jail, Belfast, and in 1977 he was sentenced to 10 years. Upon entering Long Kesh, he immediately joined the Blanketmen in H3. Kevin Lynch had great determination and a fierce sense of loyalty which saw him through even the hardest times. His former H-Block comrade, Eunan Brolly, who was also in H3, remembers how Kevin once put up with raging toothache for three weeks rather than come off the protest to get dental treatment. Kevin joined the first hunger strike in 1980, but was only on it 5 days before the hunger strike was called off. Kevin was so brutally victimized by the screws during this hunger strike, that it made the newspapers. When his mother, Bridie, went to see him, he said, “If they took everything else away, they’d never take my principles. I’ll die before they take them from me.” After his comrade and INLA OC at Long
Kesh, Patsy O Hara died, Kevin took his place. His parents, who were not
political, were completely thrown by this. His father even approached
Gerry Adams and said to him, “Why Kevin ran as a prisoner candidate for Waterford in the Dáil elections. It was thought that this would not only stir the consciences of the people in the South of Ireland, but that if he were elected TD the Southern government would be pressured to fully support the five demands. He didn't win the election, but it did help to increase political awareness. Kevin Lynch was on hunger strike 71 days. He died on 1st August 1981 at 1.00 am. At the graveside, a piper played the same lament as was played for Bobby Sands, ‘I’ll Wear No Convict’s Uniform’. “If they took everything else away, they’d never take my principles. I’ll die before they take them from me.” —Kevin Lynch See Also:
Page last updated 10 Feb 2008 Lynch grave photos by Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh Ireland's OWN Logo by Eamann Website Design and Starry Plough Background by Míchealín Ní Dhochartaigh Copyright © 2008 Ireland's OWN All Rights Reserved.
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Shortly
after his return to Ireland, Kevin joined the INLA. In late September,
at an RUC checkpoint on Limavady Road outside Derry City, Kevin and
three others surprised the policemen by jumping out of the car and
demanding their weapons. The four RUC men were caught off guard and
immediately disarmed not knowing that the boys only had one shotgun!
This became an amusing story amongst INLA volunteers, because when Kevin
would be asked, “Why didn’t you shoot them,” he would tell how
much more fun it was disarming the police and making a laughing stock of
them.
don’t YOU go on hunger strike?”
