March 2016 2 7
What's your geographical and professional
background?
IamoriginallyfromCarrickmacross,CoMonaghan,but
movedtoDublinover20yearsago.Ihaveworkedasan
EnglishandMusicteacherinStTiernan’sCommunity
SchoolinDundrumforthepast16years.
How long have you been in the Greens and how did you
first get involved?
MyhusbandandIjoinedtheGreenPartyshortlyafter
the birth of our rst child, Turlough, in 2007. I got
involvedforthesakeofhisfutureandthefutureofallof
ourchildren.Theywere,tome,theonlypartylookingto
thelong-term.
Are you on the practical or radical wing?
Idon’tthinkthetwoaremutuallyexclusive.Ibelievein
practical,long-termsustainablesolutions,butIalso
thinkwereallyhavetochangethewaywethinkanddo
politicsbeforewecanimplementthesolutions.
What motivates you?
Lookingatthingsinaninnovativeway,seekingsolu-
tions,andmychildrenofcourse!
What is your political priority?
Toprovideavoiceforrealequalityofaccesstoquality
educationforall.
How would you reform education?
Wedon’tjustneedmoreinvestmentineducationwe
needinnovationandcreativityandamoreuser-friendly
systemforall.Weneedtoformallyincorporatewellbe-
ingintothecurriculumsothatthewayweteachour
childrenismoreindividualisedforeachstudent.Teach-
ersareunder-resourcedandover-stretchedandthat
needstochangetoo.
What instrument do you play?
IsingandIalsoplaythepiano.
How would you get more women into politics?
Showthemitispossibletoeffectchangeandreform
systems,andmakeitpossibletohavequalityfamily
time.
How comfortable are you debating the fiscal space?
It’sanothercomplexlabelforsomethingreasonably
straightforward.Tothedetrimentofotherissues,itdom-
inatedtherstweekorsoofashortgeneralelection
campaign.
What simple changes could best be made to health
policy?
Thesimplestandmosteffectivechangewouldbetointe-
grate effective mental-healthcare services into
mainstreamhealthandeducationpolicies.
What is your environmental priority?
Wehavetostrivetomeetour2030emissionsreductions
targets.Ifwedon'titwillcostusalotofmoney-nobody
isspellingthisout.Thepreviousgovernmentwould
soonerincurnesthancomeupwithsolutions
What are the biggest local issues in your
constituency?
Equalaccesstoqualityeducationandchildcarearehuge
issuesforfamiliesandpeoplearegenuinelystressed,
worriedandlosingsleepovertheseissues.Providing
effective crime-prevention is also a big concern for
many.
What is your political philosophy?
Everythingisinterconnected.Weneedtobearthisin
mindwhentacklingproblemsandprovidingsolutions.
Catherine Martin
Michael Smith interviewed
Catherine Martin, the Green Party's
deputy leader and newest TD
I think that’s the
Government’s
duty to the next
generation: to
ensure equality
of opportunity
2 8 March 2016
POST-ELECTION
Everything is
interconnected. We need
to bear this in mind when
tackling problems and
providing solutions
March 2016 2 9
How would you describe yourself on a left-right
or liberal-conservative scale?
Iam notinto politicallabels.Actionsspeak
louderthanlabels.
Do you believe in equality and if so which type
eg opportunity, wealth or outcome?
Istronglybelieveinequalityofopportunity.
Nobody should beat adisadvantage inlife
becauseofwheretheywereborn,theirsocio-
economiccircumstances,theirgenderorrace,
andsoon.Ithinkthat’stheGovernment’sduty
tothenextgeneration:toensureequalityof
opportunity.
How many hours a week have you been devot-
ing to Council work?
Everyhourthatwasfeasiblypossible!
Did the Greens do a good job in government?
Yesandno.TheGreensweretaskedwithdeal-
ingwithaneconomiccollapsethatwasnotof
theirmaking.Itwouldhavebeenveryeasyto
walkawayfromthatsayingitwasn’tourfault,
buttheydidn’t,andtheyknewthey’dtakeahit
forit.Balancingthebookswasnevergoingto
beeasy,buteverybudgetthattheGreenswere
involvedinwasprogressive,atleast,which
can’tbesaidoftheoutgoingGovernment.Many
oftheGreensachievementsthatweretangibly
good were lost with poor communicative
messaging.
What lessons have they learnt?
TobeextremelycautiousaboutgoingintoGov-
ernmentagainandbeabsolutelyinsistentona
dividendofdeliveryofgreenpolicies.Tocom-
municate in a clearer way that the green
messageisoneofsocialjustice.
How would they do it differently a) in a future
government and b) if negotiating a role in gov-
ernment in the 2016 Dáil?
Wewillinsistonaprogressivepolicyplatform,
onethatlookstothelongterm,andexploitsthe
greeneconomictransitionthatwillhappenin
thenext50years.Thepartyhaslearnedles-
sonsfromitstimeinGovernment,andwewill
treadcarefullyiftheopportunityarisesagain.
How much of the Green vote was for the Greens
and how much for the environment and
oppositionalism?
IthinkthereweretwoelementstotheGreen
vote:avoteforthepartyitselfandavoteforthe
environment.Therehas been aGreenvoice
missingfromtheDáilforthelastveyears.
Nobodywasraisingenvironmentalissues.They
wantedthatGreenvoicebackintheDáil,and
theytrustedtheGreenPartytobethatvoice.I
alsobelievethevotewasduetothehardwork
wehavebeendoinginourcommunitiesacross
thelengthandbreadthofthecountry.
What would the Greens do about quality of life?
Ourrstprioritywouldundoubtedlybeensur-
ingthateverycitizenhasaccesstoawarm,
comfortable, affordable home. This would
involve an ambitious state backed building
schemetodeliverthehousingstockneeded.
Wewouldalsorampupthehomeretrotting
schemethatwasintroducedduringourtimein
Government,sothattheelderlyoratriskcan
havetheirhomesinsulated.Anotherpriority
wouldbechildcare.Thesearecriticalissues
thatneedtobeaddressed.
What makes you angry?
Doublespeakandpatentpoliti-
calinconsistencies
What are you reading?
'NoOrdinaryWomenby'Sinéad
McCoole
Who are your political and other
heroes?
ConstanceMarkieviczbecause
shewasawomanofdetermina-
tion,independence,visionand
self-sacrice.Herstrengthand
resiliencehasinspiredgenera-
tionsofmenandwomen.
How will history see the difference between FG
and FF?
Verylittle.Personalityandnotpolicydifferen-
tial,withonehappeningtobeinpowerfora
greaterperiodoftimethantheother.
How would you reform the legal profession and
the judiciary?
Costs are exorbitant so make it more user
friendlysothatrecoursetothelegalsystemis
trulyaccessibletoeachandeveryperson.
Do you think there are problems with media
ownership in Ireland?
Yes. Noone individual should beallowed a
dominantposition.
What do you think about the sincerity and effi-
cacy of the radical left and Sinn Féin?
IdonotdoubtthesincerityofSinnFéin’spublic
representativesorthoseonthehardleft.I’ve
workedwithallpartieseffectivelyatlocallevel
tondsolutionsandgetthingsdone.Ithink
thereisaproblemwiththeDáilandhowitfunc-
tions.OppositionTDsandbackbenchershave
hadnorealpowerinthepast,soPunchand
Judypoliticsprevailed.Whybotherpresenting
goodideasandsolutionsiftheyaregoingtobe
ignored?
What has the reaction being to your election -
among friends and family, and among
politicians and media?
Amongmyfamilyandfriendstherehasbeena
greatsenseofhappiness,reliefandsatisfac-
tionthatthehardhaspaidoff.Manyofthem
workedalongsidemeforthepast5years.Iper-
sonallyfeelatingeofsadnessthatbothmy
parentsdidnotlivetoseemebeingelectedto
DáilEireannandwitnesstheexcitementofthe
countandthedeclaration.Manyofthosein
mediaweresurprisedastheydidnotseemein
contention totakethe seat. It has been an
incrediblefewdaysreally,andIappreciateall
thecongratulationsandwell-wishesthatI’ve
received.
Where will you be in ten years?
Firstly-hopefullyalive!Secondly,enjoyingthe
goodhealthofmyselfandmyfamily.Thirdly,
seeing a trans-
formed Green
Partyhavingrmly
consolidated and
establisheditself
throughout Ire
-
land,andhavinga
positiveimpacton
Irish politics.
cannot have US-
styletaxesandat
the same time
investindecentpublicservices.
Ourotherobjectivewastoprovetopeoplethat
thereisarealistic,crediblepoliticalalternative
ofwhichweareasignicantpart.Thatisvery
muchaworkinprogress.
Wemaynothavesucceeded,atthispoint,in
gettingenough seats toform a progressive
Governmentbutthatwillimproveaswegoon.
ButtherealignmentofpoliticsinthisStatetook
animportantstepforwardinthiselectionand
thenextelectionwillseethattrendintensify.
ThepoliticaldominationofFineGaelandFianna
Fáilis nished. Whatwe now needto do is
increasethecohesionamongthosewhoadvo-
cateanalternativeviewofhowtheeconomy
andsocietyshouldbeorganised.
Overthepastveyears,SinnFéinhasbeenthe
genuinevoiceofoppositioninLeinsterHouse,
offeringanalternativetothedreadfulausterity
policiesofFineGael,LabourandFiannaFáil.
AllofSinnFéin’spre-Budgetsubmissionsdem-
onstratedawayofensuringeconomicgrowth
whilealsobeingsociallyequitableandprotect-
ingthevulnerable.
WerepeatedlywarnedtheGovernmentofthe
escalatinghomelessnesscrisis.TheGovern-
ment refused to listen and it became an
emergency.
Wealsoconsistentlyraisedtheissueofall-Ire-
landintegrationandthepolitical,economicand
socialcaseforaunitedIreland.
SinnFéinhasnowreceivedanenhancedman-
datetocontinuewiththatwoGerryAdamsTDis
PresidentofSinnFéin
Many of the Greens
achievements that
were tangibly good
were lost with poor
communicative
messaging.

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