Culture That Made Me: Minister Catherine Martin on Dylan, The Beatles and Mary Beard
Catherine Martin, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland
Catherine Martin is the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
She grew up in Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan. She taught English and Music in St. Tiernan’s Community School in Dundrum, Dublin for 16 years before being elected to Dáil Eireann in 2016.
She lives in Dublin with her husband, Francis Noel Duffy, a fellow Green Party TD, and their three children.
As a teenager, I loved Eurythmics. I absolutely adored Annie Lennox’s voice probably because I was a singer as well.
I particularly remember being stunned at her vocal range when ‘There Must Be An Angel’ was released.
An album I adore is Unhalfbricking by Fairport Convention. I totally love Sandy Denny's voice.
Again, my choice is influenced by the lead vocalist Sandy Denny, who, in my humble opinion, was one of the greatest female vocalists ever, but I also love the folk/rock music genre.
The track ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’ from this album is actually one of my own party pieces that I would sing with friends.
Definitely, the best gig I was ever at was in San Jose in California in 1998.
I was living in California at the time when Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Van Morrison announced a limited tour on the west coast of the USA.
I think they may have played in only 10 cities. I couldn’t believe my luck. I would have relished the opportunity to see one of these artists but the three-in-one show was absolutely incredible. And all three in glorious singing form. An amazing memory.
As a teenager, who grew up in a border county, the Kevin and Sadie series of books by Joan Lingard, which were published in the 1970s, made a big impact on me, particularly the first couple of novels, The Twelfth Day of July and Across The Barricades.
The story of Kevin and Sadie, who were from different backgrounds, growing up in Belfast, really resonated with me and how the Troubles affected everyday lives.
The struggle of love in the context of the Troubles, the harsh reality of the Troubles from the view point of teenagers was something, I as a teenager along the border, could easily connect with.
Mary Beard. (Photo by Jo Hale/Getty Images)
Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard is a short, easy read but it really gives the reader an insight into Mary's own life experiences of gendered aggression, of what she has endured, but it also shows how history has treated strong, powerful women.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mary when, in my role as chair of the Oireachtas Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, I invited her to the International Congress of Parliamentary Women’s Caucuses in Dublin in 2018.
She’s an inspirational woman. As she says herself, “You can't easily fit women into a structure that is already coded as male. You have to change the structure.”
When it comes to films, I always revert automatically to musicals. I think one of the greats is West Side Story, the original one from the early 1960s with Natalie Wood.
I am a huge Leonard Bernstein fan and the songs, the music, the really complex rhythms and changing of time signatures, the dance scenes in this movie are all truly breath-taking.
If choosing a movie that isn’t a musical, then it would probably be Steven Spielberg’s heart-breaking Schindler's List.
I thought Liam Neeson was incredible in this film and I was so disappointed that he didn’t get the Oscar for his remarkably moving performance.
And who can forget the clever image of the little girl in red in this black-and-white movie?
When it comes to theatre, again, I lean towards music – musical theatre. I have fond memories when I was a teenager, of my late Uncle Peadar, who knew I loved musicals, inviting me to go to Blood Brothers with him.
I was in awe of the storytelling, the music, the spectacular singing, the glorious songs, and the choreography. A wonderful memory.
Barry Keoghan has an exceptional acting talent. He brings every character he plays to life. He truly immerses himself in each and every role.
Most recently, I loved him as Dominic in The Banshees of Inisherin. He is inspiring our next generation of actors, from those in his inner city community of Dublin to right across the country.
I love the American crime series The Blacklist. James Spader, as the lead character, is amazing and witty, and strange and devious.
I love thrillers or murder mysteries. I read a lot and still read a lot of murder mystery, thriller-type books.
So that's what I lean to in a TV series or movie. The Blacklist is addictive. I probably watched the full series to date nearly in one day.
It was one of those where you can find yourself staying up until three in the morning watching episode after episode because it is edge-of-the-seat stuff, especially the first series.
I recently watched an excellent documentary on Robin Williams. It is called Come Inside My Mind. It really grasped my attention because he was just such a brilliant actor and such a quick, sharp wit. It was moving to see the sadness and maybe the struggles behind that wit because I was someone who grew up loving him in the show from early in his career, Mork & Mindy. It was moving to see how the friendship he made there with his co-star Pam Dawber lasted until his tragic death.
One of the first, great documentaries that I watched was back in the mid 1990s, as a massive Beatles fan – The Beatles Anthology. It was an eight-part series. I was fascinated in seeing the background to their story from the very beginning to footage all through their careers.
I grew up immersed in art. My dad was an artist and my husband is an artist too. Indeed, my husband now has my late father's easel. I love one of my dad’s favourite artists, Paul Henry. Paul Henry’s skies are really exquisite.
I also am drawn to Eileen Gray. With Eileen Gray, I particularly love that era of architecture and design and she was a master of her craft. We should be immensely proud of what she did in the international world of design.
