Holly Cairns, the leader of the Social Democrats, has announced that she is expecting her second child.
She made the announcement with a post in Instagram saying: “some news: a little brother or sister on the way” followed shortly afterwards by a statement issued by her party.
The Cork South-West TD’s statement said: “I am so happy to announce that we are expecting our second child.”
She said both she and her partner Barry Looney “are so excited and feel extremely lucky to be able to raise our family in west Cork”.
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“I have always said that having a family should not be disqualifying for a political party leader and I am very grateful to have the support of our parliamentary party and my constituents in Cork South-West.”
She said that Social Democrats deputy leader Cian O’Callaghan “will step into the role of acting leader in October for the duration of my maternity leave”.
Cairns gave birth to her first child, a girl, on polling day in the November 2024 general election.
She has previously spoken about how it was “incredible” to see the results come in from hospital and her party doubling in size to 11 TDs.
The Social Democrats’ Dáil number grew to 12 last month when its candidate Daniel Ennis won the Dublin Central byelection.
O’Callaghan served as acting leader during Cairns’ previous maternity leave until she returned to the political frontline last September.
