SOCIAL DEMOCRATS LEADER Holly Cairns has said that more women needed to enter politics in order to combat female politicians being subjected to targeted harassment.

Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Cork South-West TD Cairns was responding to the reports last month that she had to permanently close her constituency office in Bandon due to security concerns.

Cairns, who has previously spoken publicly about the abuse that has been directed at her in person and on social media, said in a statement this week:

“Following a security review last summer in consultation with my team, a decision was made to close the office.

“This was after gardaí had advised me against holding constituency clinics, which I have publicly spoken about in the past. I do not wish expand any further on this issue.”

Speaking today, Cairns said that one way to combat the targeted harassment of female politicians online and in person was to get “more women into politics”.

“I think… we kind of have to put this into perspective,” she said.

“In Cork at the moment, you know, the biggest county in the country, we’ve got 18 TDs. We’ve got more senators, and there’s one woman elected in Cork, unfortunately, and that’s me.

“And I think, key to this issue, is if we have more women in politics, I think the women in politics [already] there would be less targeted.”

She said the answer was “to face these things head on” and to “approach these issues proactively, rather than not speaking about it, keeping a lid on things and hoping it will go away”.

“It’s a huge honour and privilege for me [to be a TD] and for the most part, I thoroughly enjoy it and want to continue in the job. That is a tiny aspect of the role,” she said.

Policies

During the interview, Cairns also took aim at the Government’s record on housing and it’s response to the influx of people coming to Ireland seeking International Protection.

She also criticised the Government’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.

In relation to housing, she said if her party were in Government they would immediately introduce a ban on rent increases, a ban on evictions, and introduce a vacancy tax “with teeth”.

“Because what homes can you bring immediately back into use? The hundreds of thousands of vacant homes around the country,” she said.

We would [also] introduce a stamp duty tax that would actually ban the bulk purchasing of those homes that are built.