Martin was born in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland. The P in his name is a reference to his granduncle Vincent "Pepper" Martin, a Brooklyn-based professional boxer who once made an appearance on the front cover of The Ring, one of the sports' most well-known magazines. His sister is Catherine Martin, now deputy leader of the Green Party, whom Vincent recruited in. Previous to politics, Martin was a barrister by profession. He is married to Hilda, with whom he has two sons.
Political career
Martin started his political career in 1999 as a Town Councillor for Carrickmacross on Monaghan County Council. He later became a County Councillor in 2004 as an Independent, however previous to this some sources have stated he was a member of Fianna Fáil. He served in local politics for 10 years and he was noted as one of the few representatives at that time who advocated for Environmentalism and stood firm on decisions about planning permission. In 2006 this prompted then Green Party leaderJohn Gormley to recruit Martin into the Greens. In 2009 Martin stepped away from local politics to concentrate on being a barrister and to spend time with his newlywed wife. Upon his resignation, his fellow councillors lauded Martin as a "gentlemen" who never spoke out on anything "unless it was in a dignified manner". The fact that he came into politics with no family connections was also praised. He was expected to name fellow local green party member Darcy Lonergan as his replacement, but as Longeran was away studying in the United States, Vincent instead co-opted his sister Catherine into the position. Catherine vacated her seat upon the death of the Martins' mother and co-opted it to the returning Lonergan. Martin remained out of politics for a decade. In that time he moved to Naas in County Kildare. In 2019 he returned to politics, topping the poll in the Naas constituency in the 2019 Kildare County Council election. In the 2020 Irish general election, he ran as a candidate in Kildare North, but was not elected. In June 2020 Vincent became a senator upon the Green Party entering into government.
