Gavan Reilly: Every vote counts… and Holly Cairns’ rise proves it

It was nice to get the scoop for radio on Sunday that Holly Cairns would be uncontested as the new leader of the Social Democrats. I spent the latter part of last week trying to convince any of the remaining runners and riders - if they were going to run at all - to give me an interview on Newstalk but as late as 11:58 (halfway through the show!) there was no sign of anyone taking up the invite. Suddenly then I got a message from Cian O’Callaghan asking if he could join me in studio at 12:30, where he revealed he would be endorsing Cairns and thus guaranteeing that there would be no other opponents.

It’s a rapid rise for someone who at 33 is the youngest leader of any political party in the Dáíl, and one of the youngest – if not the youngest – in the history of the State. Five years ago she wasn’t even a member of the party, but became politically engaged through the abortion referendum and then co-founded the local branch of the SocDems partly to campaign against a proposed plastics factory in Skibbereen. The branch put her forward to run for the county council in Bantry in 2019.

That race was a cliffhanger. After six counts she was level pegging with an independent candidate, who then pulled ahead of her by 9 votes on the seventh. In the eighth and final count - the transfer of 70 FF/FG surpluses - she ended up taking the final seat by a single vote. Without that council seat she might never have been a reckonable candidate for the general election that followed nine months later; then she polled fifth but won enough transfers from FF and the Greens to take the third and final seat. Now she’s a party leader and could, depending on the next election, may well end up in Cabinet.

Proof, if you ever needed it, that every vote counts.