Inside Politics with Hugh Linehan Maria Steen: 'If you are in the centre and everybody else moves left, all of a sudden you look right wing'
Feb 25, 2026
Maria Steen, barrister, architect and political campaigner who sought a 2024 presidential nomination. She discusses her failed nomination push and why councils blocked her. She reflects on labels like conservative and right wing. She talks about faith in public life, media representation, voter dissatisfaction and barriers to building a coherent right-wing movement in Ireland.
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Perception Shift Makes Centrists Look Right Wing
- Maria Steen says if you sit at centre and the political landscape shifts left, you appear right wing.
- She frames her stance as Chestertonian conservatism: cautious change and defending the “fence.”
Open Catholic Identity Can Become A Political Liability
- Steen argues being openly Catholic or pro-life is treated as disqualifying in modern Irish public life.
- She describes media and political pushback where visible Catholic markers (ashes, church affiliation) provoked vitriol and nomination refusals.
Parties Used Whips To Block Council Nominations
- Maria recounts party councillors being instructed to block nominations, changing past practice where party members sometimes abstained.
- She says this party discipline prevented independents from getting council-route nominations in 2024.