Holly Cairns has revealed she had to cancel constituency meetings with voters because of a disturbing stalker who kept turning up at her home left her “absolutely terrified.”
The Social Democrats politician has responded seriously to the threats by installing CCTV and a new security system at her home after getting advice from the gardaí.
The Cork South West TD is the latest politician to come out and describe some of the horrific abuse and harassment that she has to endure as a young female politician.
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It follows the high profile abuse that Fianna Fáil Junior Minister Anne Rabbitte and Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon endured in Galway when they had cow dung flung at them at a public meeting in Galway earlier this month.
And her revelations came just a day after Fine Gael Senator Michael Carrigy had to go to court because he feared for his children’s safety after they were the targets of an online hate campaign.
David Larkin (42), of Ardnacassa Lawns, Longford, pleaded guilty last November to harassing the Longford-based politician between December 20, 2021 and February 14, 2022.
Now Ms Cairns has told this week's episode of The Group Chat podcast from Virgin Media News last night about the sexual nature of abusive comments sent to her online and by post - including being sent clippings from pornography featuring other women named 'Holly'.
The 33-year-old TD - who represents Cork South West and is the only female TD for the entire county of Cork - admits that she might never have run for election had she known the level of abuse she would face in the course of her job.
She said: “If I knew what I was getting myself into, no, I would not have done it.
“I'm glad I didn't know? 100%. Because I don't regret it. But honestly, had I known... probably, no, I wouldn't have done it,"
Ms Cairns also said: “It changed for me. I felt then like every message I got was somebody who could potentially turn up to my house, and then it really changed how I behaved in every single thing I did.
Ms Cairns told interviewers Richard Chambers, Zara King and Gavan Reilly that she has been forced to get CCTV for her home and a domestic security system.
She said: "It did get worse and worse and worse over time."
Deputy Cairns also reveals that she has been advised by gardaí not to run a constituency clinic, because it would involve advertising where she would be at specific times, probably alone.
She added: "It interferes with your job to the extent that you can't do the same things as your constituency colleagues - it impacts you every step of the way, and then you also can't really see why it is that you can't do constituency clinics."
Season 3 of The Group Chat airs at 11pm on Wednesday nights on Virgin Media Two and is available to download on all major podcast platforms on Thursday morning.
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