LAST UPDATE | 23 Feb 2023
NOMINATIONS FOR THE leadership of the Social Democrats will open tomorrow morning and will close at noon on 1 March.
Co-leaders Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy announced earlier this week that they were stepping down.
Of the party’s four other TDs, only Gary Gannon has ruled himself out of the contest, but Holly Cairns has been widely tipped by sources as the likely next leader.
Rules underpinning the leadership election were agreed at a meeting of the party’s National Executive this evening.
If there is a contested election, polls will close at the end of March and voting will be by digital ballot.
Members who have been in the party for at least six months will be eligible to vote. Voting will be by a system of one member, one vote.
If there is only one candidate, that person will be deemed elected when nominations close on 1 March.
A question mark had long hung over leadership within the party after there were calls for a leadership contest two years ago.
Shortall and Murphy founded the party in 2015, alongside Stephen Donnelly, who later left before joining Fianna Fáil in 2017. Therefore, this is the first time the party has faced the election of a new leader.
The Executive will put some detail on the finer points contained in the party’s constitution, which sets out that the party’s four other TDs – Cairns, Cian O’Callaghan, Gary Gannon and Jennifer Whitmore – are eligible to take up the position.
Timelines such as the date for close of nominations will be decided by the Executive, and if there is more than one candidate, it will go to a vote of all members of the party.
It is expected the close of nominations is likely to be in the next week or two.
Shortall and Murphy said yesterday that they had spent many months considering stepping aside, but had decided now was the right time to allow for their successor to “put their own print” on the party before an election.
They remained coy on who their successor could be when asked by reporters.
Speaking on Today with Claire Byrne, Gannon ruled himself out of the race.
“I won’t be contesting the leadership of the Social Democrats. I think, for me, there’s a multitude of different ways of demonstrating and showing leadership,” he said.
“I’m somebody that likes to be part of the team, the collective, and will be showing leadership in the party but that won’t be in the top position.”
Gannon said his skills are best placed in “building the organisation” ahead of the next election.
He also denied reports he is set to back Cairns to become leader, saying he has not yet decided.
“I think Holly is a generational politician… I think she appeals to a multitude of different demographics, age groups. I think she’s absolutely fabulous.
“The same could be said for Cian, who I have known for a really long time, and Jen. So I’m going to wait until everybody lays out their stall to make a decision, but we’re blessed with talent in the Social Democrats.”
Gannon was elected to Dublin City Council as an independent in 2014 before joining the party in 2015. He took a Dáil seat for Dublin Central in 2020.
Speaking on Morning Ireland earlier, Whitmore said she hadn’t yet decided if she was going to run.
The Wicklow TD, who was elected to the Dáil in 2020, said yesterday’s announcement “came out of the blue, to be honest” and that she is still processing it.
“It was a big day yesterday, a big day of emotions. And, you know, at the moment now I’m just going to take some time to think it through. I need to talk to my family and to my team, so I haven’t made a decision as of yet.”
Whitmore also said the four TDs who could throw their name in the ring “all have very different strengths, and I think all those strengths work very well together”.
She would not be drawn on whether or not two co-leaders may be chosen to succeed Murphy and Shortall.
“Look, to be honest, we do have to think all this through. We’re going to have discussions over the next few days and each of us individually will have to think about what we want to do and what’s the best way to do that,” she said.
Runners and riders
Cairns won a Dáil seat for Cork South West in the 2020 general election. It was the first time in more than 60 years that the constituency did not return a Fine Gael TD.
Cairns was previously a councillor for the Social Democrats who won her seat for the party in 2019 by just one vote. She is a farmer and a small business owner.
She has led on a number of key issues for the party and been vocal on the issue of the mother and baby home scandal.
Dublin Bay North TD Cian O’Callaghan is also not ruling himself in or out of the race, but will make a decision in the next couple of days about whether he will throw his hat in the ring, it is understood.
He was elected first to Fingal County Council in 2009 as a member of the Labour Party and was re-elected in 2014 as an independent before becoming a member of the Social Democrats.
Additional reporting by Órla Ryan and Tadgh McNally
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