Broadcaster Brendan O’Connor was in the plush Park Hotel in Kenmare for a family break, when he noticed a married couple with a “pristine” Mad Men kind of glamour who were also enjoying a weekend away.
The RTÉ veteran would later recount how he struck up a conversation with the wife. She turned to him, “like something from a Tennessee Williams play”, and said: “I believe I have you at a disadvantage. I’m Maria Steen. I really hope there’s no hard feelings.”
It was 2014, and O’Connor had earlier that year been plunged into a national controversy known as “Pantigate”. His Saturday night talkshow was forced into a €85,000 defamation payout after Ireland’s pre-eminent drag queen Panti Bliss had suggested on the prime time show that members of the Iona Institute and other conservative columnists were homophobic.
The public broadcaster would be castigated after it emerged it had made the payout to John Waters, David Quinn, Dr Patricia Casey, Dr John Murray and Steen.
RM Block
Throughout the 2010s, the Iona Institute had become synonymous with a conservative resistance to social change. The Catholic think-tank was already bracing for the anticipated referendum on marriage equality the following year.
By this point, Steen had emerged as one of its strongest campaigners with her staunch arguments against the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act. Before 2012, the Iona Institute had largely avoided abortion debates because it felt the pro-life campaign space was saturated.
But when the Fine Gael-led coalition moved to legislate for the X case in the wake of the death of Savita Halappanavar, the Iona Institute was galvanised and put Ms Steen forward as a spokeswoman against the proposed law.
[ Independent Ireland votes to back Maria Steen’s candidacy for presidentOpens in new window ]
Over 10 years later, Steen’s conservative comrades in the Iona Institute would only learn from The Irish Times that the stay-at-home mother was considering running for president.
During Pantigate, Steen and her colleagues were seen by some as the last vestiges of the old Irish establishment. Now Steen is being presented by her backers as the only true anti-establishment voice in the presidential field, given her almost outré views on social issues. Ten years on from the marriage equality referendum, Steen’s campaign seeks to frame her as a trailblazing challenger to the new orthodoxy of progressive Ireland.
Steen was raised in Ballsbridge and is the daughter of the well-known architect Seán Davin. Her aunts include former presidential candidate Joan Freeman and Theresa Lowe, the barrister and former RTÉ presenter. Her mother Margaret Davin taught her to read, write and tell the time before she started school, which Steen would cite as the foundation of her desire to homeschool her own children.
She is married to senior counsel Neil Steen and they have five children together. They have enjoyed a comfortable south Dublin family life, with the 2016 renovation of their exclusive multimillion euro Blackrock home meriting an article in the property section of The Irish Times.
Steen first qualified as an architect and then later as a barrister. As a mother she would qualify as a Montessori teacher and choose to work within the home. This would form the basis of her strong performance against the 2024 family and care referendums, particularly her advocacy of stay-at-home mothers. She is profoundly orthodox Catholic, and has opposed divorce and complained about “the death of procreative sex”.
In 2018, the telegenic Steen became the No side’s most valuable weapon in their campaign to keep the Eighth Amendment. She dominated in an infamous television debate on Claire Byrne Live. The event was decried by the Yes side who claimed audience members had been jeering and sniggering.
Steen did so well that the anti-abortion campaign tried to swap her out for fellow campaigner Cora Sherlock on a Prime Time debate the following week, resulting in a huge behind-the-scenes row with RTÉ. In the end, the show went to air with just one politician from each side: Simon Harris for Yes and Peadar Tóibín for No, which forced Miriam O’Callaghan to apologise to viewers for an abortion debate led by two men.
Within Leinster House, many independents who don’t agree with Steen’s arch-conservative views are backing her on a freedom of expression basis. There is also a fear emerging among conservatives that in a three horse race, Catherine Connolly would “hand the presidency to the Government”.
While there is a collegiate respect from many independents towards the liberal Connolly, many feel that Steen would present a greater challenge to the status quo.
