Diarmuid Lynch – Tracton’s Forgotten Volunteer

Documentary on Corkman Diarmuid Lynch – the last man out of the GPO in 1916 – to air Easter Monday on TG4. Diarmuid Lynch – Óglach Dearmadta (The Forgotten Volunteer) a documentary telling for the first time the dramatic story of Corkman Diarmuid Lynch’s revolutionary life will air on TG4 on Easter Monday March 28th at 7.30pm as part of the 100 year celebrations of the Rising. On Easter Saturday 1916, a tense meeting took place in Dublin. At stake was nothing less than whether or not the Rising would go ahead. There were five men at that meeting, four of them well know to us – Pearse, MacDonagh, Plunkett and MacDiarmada – but the fifth was Corkman Diarmuid Lynch. At this vital meeting, the decision was made to go ahead with the Rising two days later – a decision that changed the course of Irish history. Four of the five men present at that meeting were subsequently executed. One month later, only one survived – Diarmuid Lynch. So who was this mysterious man from Tracton, Co. Cork, at the centre of power behind the Rising but with no monuments to his name – no roads, schools or public buildings named after him? How did he survive the Rising and why doesn’t history remember his name? Diarmuid Lynch – Óglach Dearmadta (The Forgotten Volunteer) is a half hour documentary that answers these questions, uncovers evidence that points to Lynch being the last man out of the GPO and tells for the first time the dramatic story of his tumultuous life – his escape from death, his jail wedding, his rustling of a herd of pigs to feed Dublin’s poor, his deportation to America and his long running feud with De Valera. It also explains just why he was forgotten and restores him to his rightful place in history. Produced by Tony McCarthy and directed by Ciara Hyland of ForeFront Productions, the Cork based team are proud to bring to the screen this gem of hidden history for the first time and to tell the story of this forgotten Cork man. They are hugely indebted to the work done by Eileen McGough who first rescued Lynch from obscurity in her book ‘Diarmuid Lynch- A Forgotten Irish Patriot’. Diarmuid Lynch- Óglach Dearmadta (The Forgotten Volunteer) airs 7.30pm on TG4 on Easter Monday March 28th 2016 – one hundred years since the Rising.