Born in North Belfast,[1] Lynch became a republican activist around the start of The Troubles, and sided with the Official wing of Sinn Féin in the split of 1970.
[2] As a result, he became active in the Republican Clubs movement, and stood for the organisation in Belfast North at the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election.
[7] In 1992, Lynch sided with the split from the Workers' Party which produced Democratic Left, and he became the new group's main figure in Northern Ireland.
[10] Democratic Left dissolved in 1999, its members invited to join the Irish Labour Party but not permitted to organise in Northern Ireland.
He now works as Public Affairs Manager for Age Sector Platform and is the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Pensioners Parliament.