Meet Holly

Holly Cairns is Leader of the Social Democrats and a TD for Cork South-West.

At 33, Holly is the youngest party leader in the Dáil. Like so many of her generation, Holly was forced to emigrate after the financial crash. She worked in disability services abroad before moving home to take on her family farm and business.

After campaigning locally to Repeal the 8th Amendment, Holly stood in the 2019 local elections. She won a seat on Cork County Council by a single vote and in 2020, she was elected as a TD.

Holly is an outspoken and passionate contributor to Dáil debates, from holding the government to account for locking an entire generation out of home ownership, to fighting for fairer compensation for survivors of mother and baby homes.

A farmer and an environmentalist, Holly is a firm believer in the need to diversify our agricultural sector in order to protect our biodiversity, improve our food security and secure a profitable future for Irish farming.

To the people out there who think, “There’s no point in voting”, “They’re all the same” and, “Nothing’s going to change”. I look forward to meeting you. I look forward to listening to you. I look forward to changing Ireland for the better, together.

Holly’s Priorities

  • Take meaningful climate action underpinned by Just Transition principles.
  • Radically increase the delivery of social and affordable housing.
  • Ensure a sustainable, profitable future for the farming sector.
  • Ratify the Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
  • Ensure the full implementation of Sláintecare.

Get in touch

holly.cairns@oireachtas.ie

086 361 5830

Dáil Éireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

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Latest News

Religious orders must be compelled to appear before Commission of Investigation

Religious orders must be compelled to account for the litany of horrific sexual abuse carried out for decades in church-run schools, according to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns. “The scale of the abuse outlined in senior counsel Mary O’Toole’s scoping inquiry report is staggering. It is another stark reminder of the devastating consequences of the […]

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Govt fails to secure financial contribution from religious bodies towards mother and baby homes redress

The Government’s failure to secure a financial contribution from religious orders towards the redress scheme for survivors of mother and baby homes has been strongly criticised by Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns. “It is astonishing to learn that, to date, not one cent has been handed over by the church bodies complicit in the inhumane […]

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Cairns preparing Bill to suspend parental rights of those convicted of domestic homicide

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has backed calls for a new law that would suspend the parental rights of those found guilty of domestic homicide. Deputy Cairns made her comments after James Kilroy received a life sentence today for the brutal murder of his wife Valerie French in June 2019. “My deepest sympathies go to […]

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