CATHERINE THE GREAT POWERBROKER

As she leads the Green Party in government formation talks, the trained classical singer and mother of three has become the most important woman in Irish politics, and the central f igure in an emerging political dynasty which could be the key to the Covi

AS THE confidential talks about government formation continue, it seems hard to credit that, rather than a tried and tested political heavyweight, it’s a comparative neophyte in the corridors of power that holds the keys to the next Dáil. Catherine Martin, the former schoolteacher from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, who came from nowhere to be elected in 2016, is the Green Party’s chief negotiator and widely regarded as the fulcrum upon which a coalition with the two hitherto big beasts of Irish politics hinges.

Antagonistic from the get-go to entering talks, Martin is something of a flagbearer for the more purist wing of the Greens ; its members have placed their trust in her tough bargaining powers and her determination to ensure that enough of its manifesto is woven into the programme for government to justify the risk of coalition.

Should Martin deliver her party into a coalition, her political capital will be enhanced immeasurably, perhaps too much for some. For among her colleagues there are suspicions that, with the younger, firebrand members in her corner, she nurses ambitions to oust Eamon Ryan in the party’s upcoming leadership contest.

Giving credibility to the possibility of such an incendiary act of betrayal is the fact that Martin does not only rely on rebel activists for leverage; in her party she can also count on her nearest and dearest for political clout – her husband Francis Noel Duffy, an architect and lecturer at Bolton Street, is Dublin South West’s first ever Green TD.

And waiting in the wings is her brother Vincent P Martin, who caused a stir by topping the poll in last year’s local elections in Naas. After losing out in the recent general election to the Sinn Féin surge in Kildare North, Vincent is now potentially in line for a Seanad seat.

‘I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Vincent is a Taoiseach’s nominee to the Senate,’ says campaigner-cum-businessman David Hall about the family’s sudden emergence as a force in politics. Hall is a longtime friend of Vincent P’s, as he calls himself, their paths having crossed as student activists in Maynooth University. Older than Catherine by more than five years, Vincent P pioneered the family’s entry into politics, cutting his teeth as the president of the students’ union in 1990, with Hall as his deputy.

‘Catherine, her husband and Vincent have been a tight unit ever since the early days on Carrickmacross town council,’ says a Monaghan local. ‘They were seriously committed to the town. And they desperately wanted to get into politics.’

The elevation of Vincent P, who became a senior counsel in 2017, to the Seanad would cement the family’s sphere of influence, sowing the seeds of another political dynasty.

Such a feat was scarcely imaginable four years ago when Martin made her fiery maiden speech, ironically upbraiding the assembled deputies for dragging their heels about government formation.

Elated at being elected to the Dáil and relishing the chance to rebuild the party from the embers of 2011, the mother of three had one regret.

She recalled how the day ‘was tinged with sadness because both my parents are no longer with me. I lost them when I was quite young and that struck me going into Leinster House on the first day. It would have been lovely to have them there.’

Everybody who knew the late Vinnie and Kitty Martin agrees that they would have been anything other than proud as punch at their daughter’s triumph.

Vinnie died in 2002 from cancer before Catherine, his youngest child, turned 30 and his wife Kitty died in 2009 from the same disease.

‘Catherine was the apple of Vinnie’s

‘There is a suspicion that she nurses ambitions to oust Ryan as leader’

eye. He would even have put her husband Francis’s success down to her too. And she was proud of Vinnie. All the Martins were proud of their parents and grateful for what they did for them,’ reveals a neighbour.

The hard-working couple raised their four children in a bungalow overlooking Lisanisk lake on the Dundalk Road outside Carrickmacross. Vinnie ran a painting company and Kitty was a nurse. Although, like many of his generation, Vinnie left school at the end of primary, he valued education.

The couple made sacrifices to send Vincent P and his older brother Shane, a psychologist and author, to St Macartan’s College, the boarding school outside Monaghan town.

Catherine is a classically trained singer while their older girl, Leona, is a nurse in Los Angeles. ‘No money was spared when it came to paying for educational opportunities, be it music lessons or instruments or going to Irish college in Waterford for sixth class,’ says the neighbour.

‘They were determined that the children wouldn’t be held back. They were a very close-knit family and they were very well liked locally. It’s a shame that they are gone now.

‘The parents are buried in the local cemetery and the children have gone off in different directions, as is often the way in rural Ireland,’ said the neighbour.

At one stage it seemed that Vincent P, the closest to Catherine in age, might have stayed put in his hometown. After returning from university where, according to David Hall, he flirted with the idea of aligning himself to Fianna Fáil, the then-secondary school teacher was elected as an independent to Carrickmacross Town Council in 1999, and to Monaghan County Council in 2004.

Catherine dutifully canvassed for her brother in 1999, meeting her future husband, who was canvassing for his late father Eugene Duffy, another independent candidate, on the campaign trail.

Born in London in 1972, Francis Duffy had moved to Carrickmacross when he was 10, attending the local school before returning to

London to train as an architect. While Vincent P won the second seat on the town council with ease, poor Eugene was humiliated, losing his deposit. Happily, the chasm in their respective candidates’ fortunes didn’t deter the young lovebirds, who married in 2003.

Political animals both, Catherine has often spoken about how she and Francis like nothing better than to burn the midnight oil talking about policies.

In 2006, concern about zoning decisions in Monaghan propelled Vincent to join the Greens, a move that ultimately cost him his seat during the 2009 local elections, due to the backlash against the minor coalition party.

‘I think that took the good out of local politics for him,’ says a fellow councillor and admirer of Vincent P’s initiatives, which included helping to set up local festivals, farmers markets and so forth. ‘He was so driven and dynamic and he had a word for everybody, the same whether they were homeless or millionaires. He is a bit like Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, he has that charm and flamboyance but he is more polished or suave.’

After his disappointment, Vincent P shocked everyone by stepping down from Carrickmacross Town Council in 2009, passing the baton to Catherine. Although she was teaching Music and English in St Tiernan’s Community School in Dundrum in Dublin, and had a toddler to look after, Catherine, who had by now followed Vincent into the Greens, travelled from Dublin for the meetings.

In the meantime, Vincent poured his energy into his legal practice, marrying Hilda Cummins, a GP, while setting up home and a new political base in Naas, Co. Kildare.

In 2010 he threw himself into setting up New Beginnings, with David Hall and Ross Maguire, with the aim of helping homeowners facing repossession. Following the acrimonious departure of Mr Hall from the outfit in 2012, Mr Martin also moved to leave, over concerns at its direction.

Subsequently, an Irish Mail on Sunday investigation revealed that, under Ross Maguire, New Beginning had sold the data of 1,000 struggling homeowners to a €2bn investment fund.

Vincent also represented some of the residents of Priory Hall, who had to move out of their homes over fire safety concerns.

According to Mr Hall, Vincent’s passionate commitment to Carrickmacross is the wellspring for his Green ideology.

‘Vincent was a Green politician before it was sexy. I remember him in college railing against dubious developments in Carrickmacross, asking what was in it for the locals, rather than the speculators. There was always a Green consciousness there,’ he says.

Meanwhile in Dublin, Catherine’s family was growing. She has described the birth of her first child in 2007, a boy Turlough, as something of an epiphany, harnessing her fierce political commitment.

Another boy, Tadhg followed in 2009, and two years later a daughter, Stella. The Green Party’s annihilation in the 2011 general election, when Francis failed in his first attempt for a seat only galvanised the couple further.

Catherine was elected the Green’s deputy leader and started pounding the pavement, gradually raising her profile in South Dublin. In 2014, she was elected to Dún LaoghaireRathdown council, with Francis elected in South Dublin.

‘She’s an ideal compromise candidate for her constituency,’ says one observer of her trajectory from outlier in the 2016 general election to poll topper in 2020 in the Dublin Rathdown constituency.

‘Mount Merrion and Foxrock are affluent areas, Fine Gael is in their DNA and climate is a high priority. Catherine is an easy candidate to vote for. She never says anything wrong or does anything wrong and she has had a high profile.’

But Catherine’s pleasant and inoffensive persona belies an impressive level of self- confidence and an ambitious streak.

When a new deputy she flexed her muscles on non-contentious issues such as education and mental health, but her recent confrontation with Simon Coveney showed a more abrasive side. One newspaper reported colleagues saying they found it hard to gauge her. ‘I am never really sure where she stands,’ said one. ‘At the moment she seems to be aligning with the young Greens and the Saoirse McHugh end.’

Davd Hall jokes: ‘There is a very thin line between genius and madness and Vincent treads it very finely. Catherine is different, though she shares Vincent’s protective attitude towards Carrickmacross. She’s very genuine and helpful and she is consistent in her dealings. If she has a plan she will follow it through and compromise nothing. She does what it says on the tin. Some people think that’s boring but it’s straightforward.’

It’s also a trait her colleagues must have banked on as they placed their party’s fate in her hands. In doing so they also strengthened the Martin family’s hold on the Greens and, in the event of a coalition, catapulted a relatively obscure clan from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, into a position of dominance in government.

‘They were determined that their children would never be held back’

‘Vincent poured energy into his legal practice and local political base’

‘Her confrontation with Simon Coveney showed a more abrasive side’