Paul Hosford: Holly Cairns steals a march on Sinn Féin with her impassioned stance on Gaza

The Social Democrats leader has connected with people in a way that could end up defining her party's unique selling point

Cork South-West TD and Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has been strong on social issues, and is seen as a voice for the locked-out Generation Rent.  Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Recent social media posts by Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns focus on the week gone by and, specifically, her party’s motion calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. The posts contain two clips of her Wednesday morning speech on the motion, her speech to the 2,000 or so protesters who showed up on Wednesday evening outside Leinster House, and her defiant post of the Dáil voting screen after the motion was defeated.

As evidenced by her speeches, this is an issue that Holly Cairns cares deeply and genuinely about, which is why her party used its Dáil private members’ time to raise it and why the motion was carefully crafted to take in EU research funding and the bloc’s trade deal with Israel to try to avoid a label of tokenism.