Catherine Martin (politician)

Catherine Martin (born 7 December 1972) is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as Deputy Leader of the Green Party since June 2011, and as Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht since June 2020. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Rathdown constituency since 2016.[1]

Catherine Martin

TD
Martin in 2016
Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht
Assumed office
27 June 2020
TaoiseachMicheál Martin
Preceded byJosepha Madigan
(Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht)
Shane Ross
(Tourism and Sport)
Deputy Leader of the Green Party
Assumed office
11 June 2011
LeaderEamon Ryan
Preceded byMary White
Teachta Dála
Assumed office
February 2016
ConstituencyDublin Rathdown
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Councillor
In office
24 May 2014 – 24 May 2019
Monaghan County Councillor
In office
c. 2009 – c. 2010
ConstituencyMonaghan Town
Personal details
Born (1972-12-07) 7 December 1972
Monaghan, County Monaghan, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Political partyGreen Party
Spouse(s)Francis Noel Duffy (m. 2002)
RelationsVincent P. Martin (Brother)
Children3
Alma materMaynooth University
Websitecatherinemartin.ie

Personal life

She was a teacher of English and Music, and the head of the Green Schools Committee at St. Tiernan's Community School in Dundrum for 15 years prior to being elected to the Dáil.[2] She is married to Francis Noel Duffy,[3] also a Green Party TD and they have three children.[4] Catherine and Francis first meet in 1999 during a local election in their native Carrickmacross in County Monaghan where Catherine's brother Vincent P. Martin and Francis' father were both campaigning for office.[5] Vincent is also a member of the Green Party. In June of 2020 Vincent became a senator upon the Green Party entering into government.[6]

Political career

She joined the Green Party in 2007. In 2009 Vincent began a hiatus from politics and as a result Catherine was co-opted to Vincent's seat on the Monaghan County Council.[7] Catherine in turn vacated the seat upon the death of the Martins' mother and co-opted it to local green party member Darcy Lonergan.[8] She was elected as Deputy Leader of the Green Party in 2011 simultaneous to Eamon Ryan becoming leader. In 2014, she was elected to Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council,[3] and was elected to the Dáil in the 2016 general election, after receiving 4,122 first preference votes.[9]

She was the Green Party's Education Spokesperson.[2] Martin was elected the first chair of The Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus in November 2017, an organisation she spearheaded the creation of.[10]

In May 2020, following nominations from several councillors, she said that she would give 'serious consideration' into running for leadership of the Green Party in the 2020 Green Party leadership election.[11] On 6 June, it was confirmed she would contest the leadership.[12] Martin received 200 nominations for the contest, four times as many as was needed.[12] Within the Green Party, Martin's candidacy is seen to represent the views of younger, more radical Green Party members who did not wish to enter into coalition with Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil, in contrast to the leadership of Eamon Ryan which is seen to represent the moderate "old guard" who are open to working with those parties.[13]

Despite this, Martin was the lead negotiator for the Green Party in the government formation talks with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, and after a deal was reached, Martin endorsed the deal and argued in its favour.[14] It was noted at the time Martin's husband Francis Noel Duffy abstained from the vote on the deal,[14] and later spoke out against the deal.[15] Martin suggested that this was "part of a healthy debate" within the Green Party over the merits of the deal.[15]

Upon entering the government, Martin became Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, succeeding Josepha Madigan and Shane Ross.[16]

In July 2020, Ryan retained the leadership of the Green Party by narrowly defeating Martin by 994 votes (51.24%) to 946 (48.76%), a winning margin of 48 votes (2.47%), in a postal ballot of party members (turnout was 66.7% of the 2,923 ballots sent out, and there were 10 spoiled votes (0.5%) among the 1,950 ballots returned).[17]

gollark: In what way?
gollark: Oh, we should unban generic rust advocates 3 through 6.
gollark: The policy.
gollark: > This policy supersedes any applicable federal, national, state, and local laws, regulations and ordinances, policies, international treaties, legal agreements, illegal agreements, or any other agreements that would otherwise apply. If any provision of this policy is found by a court (or other entity) to be unenforceable, it nevertheless remains in force. This organization is not liable and this agreement shall not be construed. We are not responsible for any issue whatsoever at all arising from use of potatOS, potatOS services, anything at all, or otherwise.
gollark: Actually there is.

See also

References
  1. "Catherine Martin". Oireachtas Members Database. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  2. "Catherine Martin". Green Partye. 22 October 2016.
  3. "About Catherine". Catherinemartin.ie. 22 October 2016.
  4. "Francis Noel Duffy". Green Party. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  5. O'Connor, Allison (20 January 2020). "Green Party keeping it in the family". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  6. Kelly, Fiach (27 June 2020). "Nine of the 11 Taoiseach's appointees to the Seanad are women". Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  7. "GREEN BLUESHIRT ALLIANCE". The Phoenix. 13 February 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  8. "Young Bloods – Catherine Martin". The Phoenix. 5 May 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. "Catherine Martin". ElectionsIreland.org. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  10. "Catherine Martin elected". Green Party. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  11. Newstalk. "Catherine Martin to give 'serious consideration' to contesting Green Party leadership". Newstalk. Retrieved 2020-06-04.
  12. Regan, Mary (6 June 2020). "Catherine Martin confirms she will contest Green Party leadership". Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  13. Leahy, Pat. "Pat Leahy: Spectacular vindication for Eamon Ryan who coaxed and beseeched party over the line". Irish Times. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  14. "Catherine Martin backs deal but her husband abstains on vote". Irish Independent. 15 June 2020.
  15. Murray, Sean (19 June 2020). "'That's the Green way': Catherine Martin says party will accept if members vote against government deal". Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  16. O'Halloran, Marie (27 June 2020). "Who is in the new Cabinet? Members in profile".
  17. Hurley, Sandra (23 July 2020). "Eamon Ryan wins Green Party leadership contest". RTÉ News. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
Political offices
Preceded by
Shane Ross
as Tourism and Sport		 Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht
2020–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Josepha Madigan
as Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.