Mick Lynch

But as somebody else pointed out to me, the Free State had to struggle just to exist in more ways than one with the Civil War and then with some hostility from the U.K.,

And it was remarkable in some ways that it did actually stand on its feet and pull through in some ways.

Yeah, well, I found that interesting.

You know, when I was small, Jack Lynch was the Taoiseach and he was quite a figure over here as well, featuring on the news with the Troubles and all that scenario.

And I wanted to see what the difference was.

And I think the key difference was education.

Jack Lynch's father was present, whereas my grandfather wasn't.

He was a tailor in the city, right in town, in Cork.

and he had a trade, and they had slightly better housing, but I don't want people to get the impression that he had a silver spoon.

They were working people as well, but just slightly a couple of rungs up the ladder, but still very much in the working class.

But his children, including Jack Lynch, went on to get full-time education, which we know in the Free State and the Republic didn't come, you know, Free State education didn't come along for a very long time, and people had to pay.

So my father never got

secondary education and nor did any of his siblings whereas Jack Lynch pulled himself up I mean he didn't I don't think he went to full-time university I think he had to do night school to become a lawyer and a barrister and of course he went on to great fame as a sportsman as a Gaelic player and a captain and all you know an all-time great in many ways and my dad loved sport he loved every single sport there was including Gaelic and and soccer and all the rest of it and he would brought us up to love sport so

They had a similar background, but it's remarkable how just a couple of minor advantages in the sense that your parents can put you into education can take you forward.

So he grew up right in the shadow of Shandon, and my dad grew up in the shadow of St Finbar's, more or less.

So I found that interesting.

One went on to immigrate like so many, and he stayed behind.

and led the country.

Yeah, I felt, you know, people were quite exposed.

I mean, they were left as a family with very little income, so they had to scratch around for a living.