Kathleen Lynch (politician)

Kathleen Lynch (born 7 June 1953) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister of State from 2011 to 2016. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Cork North-Central constituency from 1994 to 1997 and 2002 to 2016.

1985 to 2009
She first held political office in 1985 when she was elected to Cork Corporation for the Workers' Party. She came to prominence as a campaigner against service charges being introduced by the corporation. When that party split in 1992, Lynch and other members of the Cork organisation were initially undecided as to their stance, but she subsequently decided to follow former party president Proinsias De Rossa and the bulk of the party's TDs into the new organisation which later took the name Democratic Left. Lynch was first elected to Dáil Éireann as Democratic Left TD for Cork North-Central at a by-election in 1994 caused by the death of Labour Party TD Gerry O'Sullivan. She lost her Dáil seat at the 1997 general election but was re-elected again at the 2002 general election, this time for the Labour Party following the merger of Democratic Left with that party in 1999.

2010s
On 10 March 2011, she was appointed by the Fine Gael–Labour coalition government as Minister of State at the Department of Health and at the Department of Justice and Equality with special responsibility for Disability, Equality and Mental Health. On 15 July 2014, she was redesignated as Minister of State with special responsibility for Primary Care, Mental Health and Disability, after her brief in Equality was allocated to Aodhán Ó Riordáin.

She lost her seat at the February 2016 general election. She remained as a junior minister until 6 May 2016 during the prolonged talks on government formation.

Shortly after losing her seat Lynch gave an interview to Catherine Shanahan of the Irish Examiner in which, among other things, she praised former cabinet colleagues James Reilly and Alan Shatter, was scathing of Leo Varadkar, Michael McDowell and Róisín Shortall, spoke of her preference for Brendan Howlin (or even Seán Sherlock) over Alan Kelly, and stated that she had no idea as to why Máiría Cahill was chosen as the party's Seanad by-election candidate.

Controversies
In April 2008, she was involved in a controversy where she wrote a letter testifying the good character of the parents of a man accused of raping two teenage sisters. The man was convicted and sentenced for 13 years. In a statement she said: "Having heard an interview with one of the victims in the case, who was clearly distressed by my letter and having considered the matter and discussed it with colleagues I now accept that it was inappropriate for a TD to have become involved in any way in a case of such seriousness. If my action has in any way added to the ordeal of the two victims in this case, then I deeply regret that and offer them my apologies."

In June 2011, Kathleen Lynch caused controversy when she appointed her husband, Bernard, to the role as a personal assistant, which is a taxpayer-funded role.

Early and personal life
Kathleen Lynch was born in Cork in 1953. She is married to Bernard Lynch and they have three daughters and one son. Bernard Lynch was a member of Official Sinn Féin. She is a sister-in-law to Ciarán Lynch who was a Labour Party TD for Cork South-Central from 2007 to 2016 and of Cork City Council Councilor Catherine Clancy, who originally had been co-opted to replace her on the council.