Profile: Dr Martin McAleese His work on the North is seen as his biggest contribution as presidential spouse, writes Renagh Holohan. But could a bigger role be in store during a second term?
Few men would appreciate their girlfriend running on to the playing field waving an umbrella at the referee for ignoring an attack on her beloved. But this is what Mary Leneghan did at a GAA football match at UCD in 1970, and Martin McAleese did appreciate it. So did his team-mates. They voted her man of the match on the bus back to Belfast.
In Martin's mind, it seems, Mary can do no wrong. And vice versa. She told the umbrella story at the recent Áras an Uachtaráin welcome home for our Olympic team. Martin beams every time he hears it.
They are an incredibly close couple, personally and professionally, and are rarely apart. On an RTÉ special, From Ardoyne to the Áras, last March, they spoke movingly about their reliance on each other.
"I almost find it impossible to think of us as two separate human beings. Maybe that is a wrong way to look at it, but on the very rare occasion when I have been away anywhere and Martin has not been with me I find the loneliness in the evening very telling," said she.
"I would feel the same way about the loneliness and being on my own, so I can very easily imagine what Mary would be going through if she was away on her own," said he.
Yet this is a marriage that very nearly never took place.
Martin McAleese's father worked in the east Belfast aircraft factory, Shorts, a byword for bigotry in those days, and the family grew up on the Albertbridge Road. Like the Leneghans of Ardoyne, the McAleeses were intimidated out of their home: Mary's house was raked by bullets while the family were at Mass; Martin's was attacked on the night after internment was imposed in August 1971 and the family moved to Rathcoole, a north Belfast suburb.
The couple first met at a schools debating competition on the Falls Road and later at Queen's University, where Martin graduated in physics in the early 1970s and Mary studied law. When he switched to accountancy and took up an apprenticeship in Dublin with Stokes Kennedy Crowley & Co, the romance, which had been a serious one, faded and Mary got engaged to Northern solicitor Rory McShane.
Then, in the summer of 1975, she moved to Dublin as Reid Professor at Trinity College. The new romance petered out, she ended the engagement and, surprising all who knew them, she quickly married Martin in March 1976.
The following year the couple settled in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. Martin was now an accountant with a travel firm and was overseas a lot; Mary was busy with work, endless committees, campaigning, and children. In March 1979 she joined RTÉ as a staff reporter with Today Tonight and was the main breadwinner while Martin studied dentistry at Trinity College Dublin from 1980 to 1984.
It could be said that Martin McAleese has had three distinct careers: accountant, dentist and presidential consort. As it is expected that he will play a far greater public role if his wife retains her post, particularly in the area of the Third World and development, he could be about to embark on a fourth.
For a professional man to relinquish his career for 14 years is not easy, but Martin McAleese has not been idle. Originally reluctant to give up his flourishing dental practice in Crossmaglen when the family moved from Rostrevor, Co Down to the Áras, he travelled to south Armagh monthly to see his former patients. Later he was part of a dental and medical team which, with the Army, travelled twice to Honduras to run a jungle clinic for several weeks.
It is expected that in a future presidential term he would undertake more voluntary overseas work and travel independently on behalf of development agencies. Some say an even larger and more autonomous role was the price of his support for a second term, although no spouse has made a greater, or more greatly appreciated (both at home and by government), contribution. Already Martin is involved in getting a campaign team together should there be a presidential contest.
IT IS HIS work on the North, however, that has occupied most of his time and effort, though little is known about the details. Martin McAleese started by inviting people from the broader unionist community to come south to play golf with a matching Southern group of business, professional and community people. Frequently, the 20-25 golfers started with breakfast in the Áras. When this concept got off the ground, Martin began taking non-golfing groups to the races, the dogs, the National Concert Hall, Croke Park and the Dublin Horse Show. He then began to focus on loyalist communities in more troubled areas. He now helps in developing their potential, in acquiring grants and introducing business people with contracts and advice.
Martin is the moving force behind the high-powered North-South Roundtable composed of business leaders and civil servants. Jointly chaired by Laurence Crowley, chairman of Bank of Ireland and a personal friend, and Stephen Kingon, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers in the North, it meets to discuss the island of Ireland's economy.
One of Martin McAleese's current projects is the installation of computer suites sponsored by Hewlett Packard in four schools, two in loyalist areas and two in republican areas. Farmers from the North, including a 70-strong unionist group, have been entertained at the Áras, as have business and fishing groups. On two occasions Northern business people, after complaining about being ignored by London, were brought to the EU in Brussels by Martin and introduced to senior officials. He travels to the North on reconciliation missions about every 10 days and invites groups to the Áras every three weeks.
"What is different about this presidency is that he works as part of the presidency. In the North he is an equal to her, or even bigger. He is always up and down with the UDA and has even had them to dinner," says one source. The source also notes that when the President visits loyalist areas she is guaranteed a civilised reception because Martin has been there in advance to do the groundwork.
Martin McAleese also has a role in the running of the Áras. From his office just inside the family's private quarters the consort works with a PA. He oversees the accounts (including food, entertainment, and so forth), has a role in the daily logistics of the large household, sorts out any tricky Áras problems, organises the guest lists for the dinner parties the couple host every three weeks or so, and, most importantly, works to fulfil the President's pledge to build bridges with and in Northern Ireland.
WHEN HE IS not accompanying his wife at home or abroad, or playing golf with his wide network of contacts, or tick-tacking with the three children, or administering the McAleese agenda from his office, Martin can be found in the Áras gym. A fitness and sports fanatic, he has given up jogging. He used to be regularly spotted jogging around the Phoenix Park in the early morning or pounding the roads with a security man on trips abroad, but fears for his back, and his very thin physique, prevailed.
Although he doesn't drink, and is seen as the silent partner, he is chatty and very sociable personally and on non-State occasions. In the early days of the presidency he cut quite a dash when he appeared at black-tie events in a Nehru-style jacket, single-stud shirt and no bow-tie or lapels. One acquaintance felt it was a statement of independence and that he was setting a style he hoped others would follow. They didn't, and during the last couple of years he has adopted the conventional male attire of black dinner jacket and bow-tie.
The golf - he plays off a handicap of 16 - and the gym are among the few activities the McAleeses do not partake in as a couple. Mary prefers walking, knitting and meditating. Both are fanatical GAAfans. They have a newly built lakeside home in Co Roscommon, which they visit frequently. Martin accompanies Mary on most of her engagements at home and on all her trips abroad, where they frequently appear hand in hand. They must be the first Irish First Couple to do so.
"He is fantastic. A total rock and a very important part of the presidency," says a close associate. He is also a bit of a charmer.