SIBLINGS: Barrister Constance Cassidy and her auctioneer sister Helen discuss their relationship.
The Cassidy sisters are coy about their age. Their late mother Eileen used to tell them the longest decade of her life was between 39 and 40 so they say that in withholding this vital information all they are doing is keeping up a family tradition.
Constance is a mother of seven (Eleanor 12, Harry 10, Kate 9, Constance 7, Jane 6, John 5, Edward 2) and a barrister who specialises in licensing law, as did her father, the late Justice John Cassidy. She is the oldest girl in a family of four girls and three boys.
Helen is the youngest girl. The mother of two (Eileen 5, Gregory 3) is an auctioneer, the only female sole practitioner in the west of Ireland, who specialises in selling castles.
Their parents died in a car crash in 1995. Last year Constance and her barrister husband Eddie Walsh bought the historic Lissadell House in Co Sligo and they now stay there whenever they are not in their home in Co Kildare. Helen is married to antique dealer Yurgen Mantel and lives in Connemara.
HELEN
The very earliest memories I have of my childhood in Co Kildare are of Constance buckling my shoes. She taught me Latin at the age of four and she taught me to read. She led us on picnics, on mushroom hunts and to the lakes. She was another Mama and a natural leader; they were happy, golden years.
Constance was a real blue stocking. She had this elaborate exercise where she would sit us all down and teach us English. Every Sunday she would give each of us 20 words and we would have to come up with the Oxford English Dictionary definition of that word. I remember I got 17 out of 20 once. The encouragement you got from Constance made you want to do it. I flourished under her praise.
I remember when she left for Trinity College feeling awfully bereft. At school if I had a problem I would think to myself 'now what would Constance do?' and invariably it was the right thing.
All four of us girls went to Trinity College. The others did law while I studied history. Constance was a glittering character in the undergraduate years. Through her I met people like Brendan Kennelly when I was around 14 because she had gotten to know them in college. When I started at Trinity, my contemporaries would have been in awe of people like him and I would think to myself, well, my sister has already sorted all that for me.
I left for London after college where I studied acting with Lee Strasberg on a scholarship. I also did an auctioneering job in my spare time, and my employer was always on at me to give up 'that acting rubbish'. I came home around 10 years ago to live with my parents and started auctioneering.
When our parents died in 1995 it was a nightmare but an incredible bonding took place in the family. They left us a legacy of incredible closeness. At the time Constance would call me constantly to make sure I was ok.
When I heard about Lissadell, being in the business, I thought it a wonderful bargain, full of emotional history; Daddy was fascinated by Countess Markievicz. One Sunday morning Eddie rang to say he and Constance were looking at "that interesting bargain west of the Shannon". Careerwise it was great because they wanted me to head up the deal and personally it was wonderful because I could be closer to them and have a holiday home too! Buying Lissadell was a wise and happy move for Constance.
She knows how I tick and constantly praises me, which is a wonderful thing, because even when you are married and have children you still need some of that. Constance is hugely tolerant, utterly glamorous and even with her tremendously busy life I know she will always come to the phone and say 'hello darling'.
The only criticism I would have of her is that if I get a bit too giddy in company or ask provocative questions she will sometimes glare at me. We never fall out. The worst Constance could ever say to me is 'I'm disappointed in you', so it's a good thing that doesn't happen.
CONSTANCE
I remember when Helen was brought home. She had the most unbelievable shock of golden hair and she was so beautiful that Daddy named her after Helen of Troy. She was quite a whingey child, but one day I said to her 'it can't be all that bad Helen' and she smiled and she hasn't stopped smiling since. She is the sort of person who walks into a room and immediately makes it brighter.
When I went to college I was a country girl and it was a challenge to join all these societies and meet all these new people. By the time Helen came to Trinity, we older sisters had to bat the men away from her; she was so beautiful. After college she left for London, I got married to Eddie and while we visited each other often, I missed my sisters terribly.
Helen, to her bones, wanted to be an actor. She got a good degree and went to study acting but doing the auctioneering part time it became clear that she could sell snow to an Eskimo. One day she just rang me and said she missed Mum and Dad and the family and that she wanted to come home. The job she does now combines her history degree, the acting and the auctioneering. She is selling a premier product and doing wonderfully.
Helen met her husband when he was on holiday in Ireland from Germany and went into her office looking to buy property. By amazing coincidence she had her first child on the same day as I had my sixth. We were in Mount Carmel, where we had facials and such fun that we didn't want to go home. We called the children Eileen and John after our parents.
What I love about Helen is that she never gives out, she never criticises and she is incredibly loyal. She is one of the most positive people I know. We never row, because at this stage we know where each other's hotspots are and do our best to avoid them.
I find it difficult to say anything bad about her but there is one thing that is extremely irritating. When Helen is around, men never look at me; they always look at her. That's probably the worst thing about her I can say."
Helen and Constance Cassidy spoke to Róisín Ingle