Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns not ruling out coalition with any party

TD Holly Cairns did not ruled out a coalition with any party as she became leader of the Social Democrats on Wednesday.

Promising to be “unashamedly ambitious” about the upcoming local and general elections, she said the party wants to be in government and offer “a new style of politics, not the old jobs for the boys, not the cosy connections”.

Although the Cork South-West TD admitted there were many similarities between left-wing parties in Ireland, she emphatically denied that the Social Democrats would be appealing to the same pool of voters as the Labour Party.

After Social Democrat members present booed a question about a long-mooted merger with Labour, Ms Cairns ruled that possibility out: “It’s a categoric no.

“What I’m talking about there in terms of trying to earn people’s trust, I think that trust has been broken between people and the Labour Party and we’re unashamedly ambitious about the future of the Social Democrats.

“That future does not include a merger with any other party.”

Outlining what differentiates the two parties, she said that Labour “tend to vote for funding for the greyhound racing industry”.

“I don’t think we’re actually appealing to the same group of voters and I wouldn’t have joined the Labour Party,” she said, prompting applause from the packed room of her friends, family and party members.

“I recognise that there’s lots of similarities in policy among left wing parties, and that it can be confusing as a voter.

“I suppose a lot of it is the way you achieve the final goal and climate action I think is something that really does differentiate a lot of parties.”

She said that the swing towards Sinn Fein happened at a time when the Social Democrats were “just five years old” and “weren’t, in that moment, big enough” to fill the need that voters were searching for at that time.

She said that her aim would be to encourage people disinterested in or disillusioned with politics into the party.

She added: “We really want to govern, we want to implement the policies that we’re speaking about, but we don’t want to go into government for the sake of going into government.

“We certainly wouldn’t be going into government to make up the numbers.

“Our aim is to introduce democratic policies that can have a profound impact on the people we represent. We’re not ruling anybody out at the moment… but safe to say we will drive a very hard bargain.”

Ms Cairns became leader of the Social Democrats a week after its co-leaders, Catherine Murphy and Roisin Shortall, announced they would step down to pass on the future of the party to its next generation.

Founded in July 2015, the party currently has six TDs.

In her maiden speech, Ms Cairns outlined how she joined the Social Democrats just five years ago, while campaigning for a vote to liberalise Ireland’s abortion laws in the 2018 Eighth Amendment referendum.

The 33-year-old said: “Some will say I am too inexperienced for this job.

“To them I say, I have plenty of experience.

“I grew up on a small dairy farm in West Cork; I worked as a waitress through school and college; I had to emigrate after the crash; I worked in disability services and saw the transformative difference that proper services can make to disabled people’s lives; I have a masters in science; and I have run a small business with my amazing mum.

“I may not fit the stereotype of a politician, but that is not a bad thing.

“Let’s not forget that some of the most experienced politicians in the Dail bankrupted the country a little over a decade ago.”