Patrick Lynch MRIA (5 May 1917 – 16 November 2001) was an Irish economist. He believed in economic development and the co-ordination of government policy, including fiscal, social and monetary measures to invest in education and joining the European Economic Community. He favoured empirical education economics in Ireland and development economics flowing from investment in science. He was " ... one of the most respected and influential social and economic thinkers during the critical period of the Sixties, when Ireland's economic foundations were laid."