Early on in the years we lived in Dublin we went to a small event where Jack Lynch was the featured speaker. I didn’t have a clue as to why this man was so important. But I was urged by my husband to shake hands with the man, Jack Lynch. Now in later years I read the Encyclopedia entry for Jack Mary Lynch, a very significant figure in Irish politics – for one, he served as Taoischeach, equivalent to Prime Minister in the United Kingdom or President in the United States. In 1969 when my husband and I listened to Jack Lynch, the Taoiseach, speak in a relatively small meeting room it was just before the “troubles” really flared up in Northern Ireland. Jack Mary Lynch, 1917-1999. Famous Sportsman, Politician. From Cork Ireland. In retrospect I wish I had shaken hands with the famous man but at the time I was too shy.