Catherine Martin
TD
Martin in 2016
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Assumed office
27 June 2020
Taoiseach
Preceded byJosepha Madigan
Deputy leader of the Green Party
Assumed office
11 June 2011
LeaderEamon Ryan
Preceded byMary White
Teachta Dála
Assumed office
February 2016
ConstituencyDublin Rathdown
Personal details
Born (1972-09-30) 30 September 1972
Carrickmacross, Monaghan, Ireland
Political partyGreen Party
Spouse
​
(m. 2002)​
Children3
RelativesVincent P. Martin (brother)
Alma materMaynooth University
Websitecatherinemartin.ie

Catherine Martin (born 30 September 1972) is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media since June 2020 and deputy leader of the Green Party since June 2011. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Rathdown constituency since 2016.[1]

Personal life

Martin was born in 1972 and is a native of Carrickmacross, Monaghan. She studied at Maynooth University. 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 together.[4] Catherine and Francis first met 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 2020, Vincent became a Senator on the Green Party entering government.[6]

Political career

Green Party

She joined the Green Party in 2007. In 2009, her brother, 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 on 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 following 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 for the party 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 favour of it.[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]

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).[16]

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media

On entering government, Martin was appointed as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, succeeding both Josepha Madigan and Shane Ross in different aspects of her portfolio.[17]

On 17 December 2022, she was re-appointed to the same positions following Leo Varadkar's appointment as Taoiseach.[18]

On 22 June 2023, RTÉ admitted that it paid its top presenter Ryan Tubridy €345,000 more than publicly declared between 2017 and 2022.[19] Martin said it was unacceptable that the expected standards of transparency and accountability had not been met.[20] Two days later, Martin met with chair of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh and ordered a full review of the governance and culture at RTÉ and said its executive board was not told of the hidden payments that caused an "existential" crisis for the national broadcaster.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Catherine Martin". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 22 May 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Catherine Martin". Green Partye. 22 October 2016. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 "About Catherine". Catherinemartin.ie. 22 October 2016. Archived from the original on 29 June 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  4. ↑ "Francis Noel Duffy". Green Party. Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  5. ↑ O'Connor, Allison (20 January 2020). "Green Party keeping it in the family". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. 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. Archived from the original on 30 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  8. ↑ "Young Bloods – Catherine Martin". The Phoenix. 5 May 2016. Archived from the original on 24 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. ↑ "Catherine Martin". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 29 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  10. ↑ "Catherine Martin elected". Green Party. 8 November 2017. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  11. ↑ Newstalk. "Catherine Martin to give 'serious consideration' to contesting Green Party leadership". Newstalk. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  12. 1 2 Regan, Mary (6 June 2020). "Catherine Martin confirms she will contest Green Party leadership". Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  13. ↑ Leahy, Pat. "Pat Leahy: Spectacular vindication for Eamon Ryan who coaxed and beseeched party over the line". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  14. 1 2 "Catherine Martin backs deal but her husband abstains on vote". Irish Independent. 15 June 2020. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  15. 1 2 Murray, Sean (19 June 2020). "'That's the Green way': Catherine Martin says party will accept if members vote against government deal". Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  16. ↑ Hurley, Sandra (23 July 2020). "Eamon Ryan wins Green Party leadership contest". RTÉ News. Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  17. ↑ O'Halloran, Marie (27 June 2020). "Who is in the new Cabinet? Members in profile". Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  18. ↑ Lehane, Micheál (17 December 2022). "Reshuffle: Who is in the new Cabinet?". RTÉ News. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  19. ↑ Goodbody, Will (22 June 2023). "RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared". RTÉ News. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  20. ↑ Horgan-Jones, Jack; Power, Jack (22 June 2023). "RTÉ reveals undeclared €345,000 payments to Ryan Tubridy as top earners' contracts investigated". The Irish Times. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  21. ↑ Pope, Conor (24 June 2023). "Tubridy payments crisis: Catherine Martin orders full review of RTÉ's governance and culture". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
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