One of the biggest shocks of the 2020 election was the defeat, in Cork South West, of Fine Gael’s Tim Lombard in what had been, traditionally, one of the safest Fine Gael seats in the country. The woman who vanquished him? One Holly Cairns, then a fresh-faced newcomer and now the leader of the Social Democrats.
In 2020, this was all made more dramatic by the media-friendly news that Deputy Cairns was in a relationship – which has since ended – with her Fianna Fáil opponent, Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan, who also won election on that afternoon. The then-couple joined Independent poll-topper, now leader of Independent Ireland, Michael Collins, in the Dáil. Fine Gael were left scratching their heads about where it had all gone wrong.
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