 He was the third leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 until 1979, succeeding the hugely influential Seán Lemass.Lynch was the last Fianna Fáil leader to secure (in 1977) an overall majority in the Dáil for his party.Historian and journalist T. Ryle Dwyer has called him "the most popular Irish politician since Daniel O'Connell."