Politics must often divide families as they argue over the pros and cons of a particular party. But in the Clare town of Kilkee the Martin family is polarised by the conflicting ambitions of Micky and his wife, Diana.
Each is seeking a seat on Kilkee's Town Commission in the local elections.
A member of a local community-based group, the Kilkee Planning Review Group, Diana will be competing as an Independent candidate against the Fine Gael election machine, which will be supporting Micky to win one of the commission's nine seats.
Thirty-three years married to Diana, Micky says their election battle "is not the first confrontation" they have had during their married life.
Asked whether he will urge people also to support his wife too, he said: "No. I will be asking people to give my two Fine Gael colleagues numbers two and three. Diana will have to settle for number four or number five."
His wife says she will be asking the Kilkee electorate to give their vote to her two colleagues running from the Planning Review Group.
Their children, Deirdre, Michael and Seamus, are eligible to vote.
Micky says, with a smile, that he is quietly hoping that the children will split on male/female lines, which would give him an early lead on polling day.
Diana says that while there has been some amusement among the Kilkee public at their political struggle, "people know we're independent-minded and they're not surprised by it".
