Philip Flynn (born 1940 in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

) is an Irish businessman. He was previously a vice-president of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

, a trade unionist, an industrial relations consultant, a government advisor and a financier. He was the eldest of five children of a nationalist mother and

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

father. He joined Sinn Féin at the age of 14 and lent support to some of those involved in the IRA Border campaign of the 1950s. He was taken in for police questioning on a number of occasions owing to his political activities. In 1974, he was tried with IRA membership, but acquitted, by the

Special Criminal Court The Special Criminal Court (SCC; ga, Cúirt Choiriúil Speisialta) is a juryless criminal court in Ireland which tries terrorism and serious organised crime cases. Legal basis Article 38 of the Constitution of Ireland empowers the Dáil to ...

. During the trial, the state alleged that he was IRA Director of Finance. In

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

, he was arrested and held for three days under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. In 1975, he came to public prominence when he acted as a mediator in the

Tiede Herrema In October 1975, Dutch businessman Tiede Herrema (21 April 1921 – 24 April 2020) was kidnapped by the Provisional IRA in Castletroy, near Limerick. This triggered a large police investigation and a two week siege, after which Herrema was relea ...

kidnap siege. In 1984, he was elected general secretary of the Local Government and Public Services Union. His election caused problems for the Fine Gael-Labour administration as Flynn was also vice-president of Sinn Féin and as such, government officials and ministers refused to talk to him. Shortly after, he was elected to the executive of the

Irish Congress of Trade Unions The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (often abbreviated to just Congress or ICTU), formed in 1959 by the merger of the Irish Trades Union Congress (founded in 1894) and the Congress of Irish Unions (founded in 1945), is a national trade union centr ...

(ICTU). In the same year, he stepped down as Sinn Féin vice-president, telling the party's

Ard fheis or ''ardfheis'' ( , ; "high assembly"; plural ''ardfheiseanna'') is the name used by many Irish political parties for their annual party conference. The term was first used by Conradh na Gaeilge, the Irish language cultural organisation, for i ...

that his experience and support would always be available to the movement. In 1987, he was reported to have resigned from Sinn Féin. From 1993 to 1995, he was president of ICTU, representing the Irish Municipal Public and Civil Trade Union. In 1996, he was appointed chairman of the Industrial Credit Corporation (ICC) by

Ruairi Quinn Ruairi Quinn (born 2 April 1946) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1989 to 1997, ...

. ICC was subsequently acquired by the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

in 2001. In February 2005, Flynn's office was raided by officers of the

Criminal Assets Bureau The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) ( ga, An Biúró um Shócmhainní Coiriúla) is a law enforcement agency in Ireland. The CAB was established with powers to focus on the illegally acquired assets of criminals involved in serious crime. The aims ...

(CAB) as part of an investigation into alleged IRA

money-laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

. Flynn was a non-executive directors Chesterton Finance Company Ltd, a company at the centre of the CAB investigation. As a result, he resigned as chairman of the Irish Government committee on decentralisation, as non-executive chairman of

Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Scotland, which later became part of Lloyds Banking Group. It offered commercial and corporate banking services under the Bank of Scotland brand and retail banking se ...

and as director of the VHI. During the search of his officers, Flynn was found to be the illegal possession of a

pen gun A pen gun is a firearm that resembles an ink pen. They generally are of small caliber (e.g., .22 LR, .25 ACP, .32 ACP, .38-caliber, etc.) and are single shot. Early examples of pen guns were pinfired, but modern designs are rim or centerfire. ...

and mini

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...

canisters. At related court hearing In December 2005, he admitted to possession and agreed to pay €5,000 to a charity. Ted Cunningham, the

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

based financial adviser convicted of laundering £3 million of the sum stolen by the

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

in the 2004 Northern Bank robbery stated "Phil Flynn is the boss behind everything" in a garda interview about the robbery introduced in evidence in Cunningham's trial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Phil 1940 births Living people Irish bankers Sinn Féin politicians Irish businesspeople People from Dundalk Irish trade unionists Presidents of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions