SOCIAL Democrats leader Holly Cairns has said that she was told that she ‘took’ a Fine Gael seat in Cork South West and that ‘they’re going to take it back next time.’
The Cork South West TD was also recently told that she needed to have ‘a good hobby’ because she wasn’t going to get re-elected.
She shared these challenges when speaking last week at a conference in Cork called Women for Election where she said that ‘as a woman in politics you’ll encounter this type of resistance. You’ll encounter this status quo thinking, these comments, these put-downs. Be prepared for them, but more importantly be prepared to prove them wrong.’
Deputy Cairns said she stood for election because she wanted to make a difference in Cork South West.
‘When I looked around at my councillors and TDs, I didn’t feel represented. A few of us formed a branch of the Social Democrats and I chose to run for the locals in 2019.
‘I’m not going to sugarcoat this. It was sometimes a very difficult process. It involved me knocking on doors by myself, l was laughed at, I was written off. I lost the election by one vote. I called a recount and then I won by a vote.
‘The following year when I ran for the general election, I was again written off. There was no way that a woman so new to politics, from a party with no presence in West Cork, could possibly get elected. Well I knew I could,’ she said.
However, even after becoming leader of the Social Democrats, she said she’s still facing that establishment thinking.
