Tributes to Jack Lynch in his alma mater
Mr Cowen said he was delighted to open a conference to commemorate the man who had become known as ‘the real Taoiseach’.
Mr Cowen described his predecessor as “one of the most respected and most formidable elected representatives that the Irish people have ever seen”.
The Taoiseach opened the conference by referring to Mr Lynch’s economic policies and vision in securing a central place for Ireland in Europe.
Speaking in the Aula Maxima, Mr Cowen said: “Jack Lynch’s achievements were many and far-reaching, but to my mind, his greatest legacy is rooted in his skill in leading this country into the EEC and safely through the outbreak of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.”
He said that the courage and dynamism which epitomised Mr Lynch’s skill as a sportsman were the same qualities he brought to bear in his political life. He said the Mr Lynch’s contribution to Irish life had stood the test of time and he recalled how the former Taoiseach had helped transform Ireland socially and economically and while he was a formidable leader and statesmen, he “never strayed from his Shandon roots”. “Whether in Páirc Uí Chaoimh or at an international summit you would always meet the same Jack Lynch,” he said.
“Lynch had the vision to see beyond a narrow ‘little Irelander’ ideology. He knew the quest for national self-determination in Ireland has always been about taking our place among the nations, not standing separate from them.” The Taoiseach also paid warm tribute to the contribution made by Mr Lynch’s wife, Máirín, who was, he said “a popular figure in her own right”.
The conference was also addressed briefly by Professor Dermot Keogh of UCC’s Department of History, the author of a forthcoming biography of Jack Lynch. Professor Keogh said that Mr Lynch deserved to be remembered for being more than just a nice fellow.
“Along with de Valera and Sean Lemass, Lynch faced major challenges in his political life. It took, for instance great political skill and not just amiability to secure our membership of the EEC.”
The conference was attended by political, academic and religious leaders, including Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, Archbishop Desmond Clifford, former PD leader Des O’Malley as well as local dignitaries.
The conference, entitled Jack Lynch: Politics and Sport, Personality and Leadership, and held in association with the Irish Examiner, moves to the Boole Library today.
Among the speakers today is Dr Jonathan Bardon, Department of History, Queen’s University, Belfast, who will discuss Lynch’s handling of the Northern crisis in the late 1960s. That session will be chaired by the editor of the Irish Examiner, Tim Vaughan.
Other speakers include Dr Michael Kennedy, Royal Irish Academy who will concentrate on the late Taoiseach’s expansion of Irish foreign policy and RTÉ’s Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh who will, of course, discuss Lynch’s formidable sporting achievements.
