Martin Lynch is a native of

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and was reportedly a member of the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

(IRA) Army Council. Lynch is alleged to have been the adjutant-general, who had day-to-day control of the IRA. He is a former driver of

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams (; born 6 October 1948) is a retired Irish Republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 19 ...

and

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...

, and is considered an Adams loyalist. In 1999 a car used by Lynch, which took Adams and McGuinness to meetings with the Provisional Irish Republican Army, was found to contain an

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

bugging device.MI5 boss admits bugging Adams
By David Leppard, The Sunday Times, 16 January 2005

Mo Mowlam Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar (UK Parliament constituency), Redcar f ...

had personally sanctioned the listening and tracking device found in the vehicle, as she later confirmed in a television interview. MI5 later briefed the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' that the £20,000 device had also been intended to help locate IRA weaponry. The target of the surveillance was Lynch, whose unsuspecting wife owned the car. Adams tacitly confirmed the vehicle's status as IRA transport when he stated that it was used by both McGuinness,

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

's chief negotiator, and himself when they travelled to meetings with the IRA. He accused the British of endangering the peace process, describing the affair as "an outrageous breach of faith which must be addressed at the highest levels".

References

Living people People educated at St. Mary's Christian Brothers' Grammar School, Belfast Paramilitaries from Belfast Provisional Irish Republican Army members Year of birth missing (living people) {{NorthernIreland-paramilitary-bio-stub