MARTIN WAS a compulsive gambler for over 30 years before seeking treatment through Gamblers Anonymous.
"I started as a young boy sticking pins in the list of horses for the Grand National. My grandad always followed a certain trainer and I'd be sent down to the bookies to place his bets."
By the age of 10, he was an experienced poker player, preferring to play cards with older boys than kick football or play toy soldiers. When he started work as a messenger boy, customers asked him to place bets for them, but he was soon gambling his own money.
"I'd bet on anything: cards, horses, dogs, pitch and toss. One night, we sat in O'Connell Street until 2am betting on what type or colour of car was going to come around the corner next."
He became a compulsive liar to cover up his activities, and started borrowing from friends. When that source of money dried up, he began thieving to fund his gambling and went through a succession of jobs.
Problems with drink followed and he reckons that in 17 years of marriage to Susan, she only ever got four years of wages. "My three eldest children didn't care whether I lived or died. I was a lodger in my own house."
In all this time, no bookie ever refused his money, though friends tried to get him to change his ways. Finally, Susan threw him out and he lived on the street for a while.
"One day in 1986, I walked out of the bookies after the last race of the day and hit rock bottom. I walked to the wall of the Liffey, wanting to end it all." Instead, he rang the Samaritans, who directed him to Gamblers Anonymous, and a slow process of recovery began.
Martin has not gambled or taken a drink now for 22 years and says he doesn't miss either activity. Relations with his adult children have been restored, and although he says one of his sons had a problem with gambling, he believes this was just a phase.