When Marie O’Toole announced she was running for ICA president last year, she knew there were some people who doubted that she would succeed.

“‘She’ll never get it, they’ll never vote for a Dublin person,’” she says, recalling some of the whispers.

“But I did, against all the odds; and I got great support from the country.”

But then, it would not have been the first challenge that the Portmarnock woman has overcome, having fought breast cancer, become a carer and lost her husband, all in recent years. Yet – throughout this time of upheaval and change – the ICA has been her rock.

Irish Country Living meets Marie at the Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links in north county Dublin. It’s where she met her late husband, Martin, at a dance when she was 17 and confirms that it was, indeed, “love at first sight”.

“We got engaged after about six months, but obviously my parents wouldn’t allow me to get married,” she smiles, explaining that as an only child, they were naturally protective of her.

Nonetheless, love found a way and the couple married when she was 19, with their daughter, Caragh, born two years later. Perhaps uniquely at that time, Marie returned to the workplace and went on to enjoy a long career with Canada Life.

However, as the prospect of retirement started to loom, it was Marie’s daughter who actually suggested she consider joining an organisation like the ICA to have something to focus on when she finished work.

So, when she saw an ad that a new guild was opening in Portmarnock in 2002, she went along; and found herself co-opted on to the committee as “teachta”.

“I hadn’t a clue what a “teachta” was,” she laughs, adding that it was the camaraderie with the other women that proved the real draw, as well as the social and “me time” opportunities ICA provided in abundance.

“I needed something for myself,” she says simply. And as it turned out, in more ways than one. Around the same time Martin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, after doctors began investigating why he wasn’t healing as expected following a knee replacement.

Cancer

But as well as caring for her husband, Marie also found herself facing her own battle when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 following a routine Breast Check. A lumpectomy was scheduled, followed by radiotherapy. But while the treatment took its toll, she still kept her routine as normal as possible; even asking doctors to schedule her appointments so they would not clash with her ICA commitments.

“I used to drive them mad,” she admits.

Marie explains, however, that through the experience, she found strength she never knew she had and now in remission for many years, it’s something she does not dwell on, preferring to “live in the moment”.

“I never think about it (cancer) or I would never have this: ‘Oh what if it came back.’ If it comes back, it comes back,” she says, matter of factly.

“There’s nothing you can do about it because you’re only meeting trouble halfway if you keep thinking about what could happen. It happened, it’s over; and you move on.”

Which she did – even tackling her fear of driving and going on to pass her test first time in 2008.

Grief

Sadly, however, there was another shock in store when a brain haemorrhage claimed Martin’s life five years ago. But, once again, ICA proved a source of support, from quietly organising the catering during the funeral to providing Marie with a focus in the weeks and months afterwards as she adjusted to her new reality.

“When somebody dies, you want the world to stop and you say: ‘Why is life going on and I’m like this?’” she acknowledges.

“But then you just do have to pick yourself up and I suppose in everybody there is an inner strength. You can cave in or you can move forward. And my husband would have hated me to cave in.”

Indeed, while Marie originally stood for election for ICA president in 2012, losing out to Liz Wall, that did not deter her from standing again in 2015.

“I don’t think that you should ever give up,” she says. “If you want to reach a goal, go for it.”

While her election manifesto included increasing membership from the current figure of 11,000 women and putting the An Grianán centre in Termonfeckin on a firm financial footing, her activities to date have varied from supporting campaigns like “Saving Rural Ireland” and “Turn Off The Red Light” to overseeing the hotly contested brown bread making competition at the Ploughing Championships.

During her term she also wants to highlight issues affecting ICA members, whether it’s the impact of farm accidents on families, the struggles faced by carers, mental health or rural crime.

“For the biggest women’s organisation in the country, I think we’re far too quiet,” she says.

However, her main message is that the ICA is a source of friendship for women of all ages, and offers something for everybody, from crafts and cookery to yoga, mindfulness and, most importantly, me-time.

“The ICA is for yourself,” she says. “And I think Anita Lett (founder) was a saint and she was such a far-thinking woman that she saw the need for women.”

One suspects that Marie’s own “me-time” might be curtailed these days with her ICA commitments, but in her spare time her Kindle is her companion, she enjoys walking and is very close to her daughter, who lives in the UK with her family.

Though there is one pleasure she does find time to indulge in.

“Impulse buying,” she sighs of her love of fashion. “That’s my guilty secret.

“But I do supply a lot of charity shops... I can tell you that!”

For further information, visit www.ica.ie

With thanks to Portmarnock Hotel & Golf Links, which is located just 15 minutes from Dublin airport but boasts an unmatched coastal location. Visit www.portmarnock.com CL