Senator Michael McDowell has stated that he did not nominate Maria Steen for the presidency because, “as a liberal, I felt her election would have been a step backwards for the Ireland I believe in.”

Maria Steen is a conservative campaigner who advocated for a ‘no’ vote in both the abortion and same-sex marriage referendums. She received 18 of the 20 required Oireachtas nominations but criticized Mr. McDowell following her failed bid.

Ms. Steen claimed she had been waiting to see if Mr. McDowell would run for president herself. She also said she had expected his support, as they campaigned on the same side during the family and care referenda — proposals that were overwhelmingly rejected by the public.

In a written statement, Mr. McDowell explained his position in detail:

“In early 2025, I considered suggestions that I should seek nomination for the presidential election and decided against doing so. My decision was made public on May 23rd in this newspaper.

In July, my office was informed of plans by pro-life members of the Oireachtas, including Aontú, to establish a process in which members of the Oireachtas would interview aspiring candidates chosen by them. These aspirants included Declan Ganley and Maria Steen, both known pro-life activists. I indicated then that I was not interested in becoming involved with such a caucus.”

Mr. McDowell also revealed that he was approached by Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín on a second occasion but again declined to participate in the process.

He further discussed correspondence he received from Ms. Steen regarding her nomination:

“A number of people sounded me out as to whether I would support their candidacies. On September 1st, Steen contacted me by text saying: ‘you may have seen I am looking for a nomination would you have time to take a quick call today.’

I replied as follows: ‘Maria, thanks for your message. My position is that as I have already informed two hopefuls, I will make no decision or commitments on nominations until the likely set of nominees becomes clearer including the possibility of Local Authority nominations and whether Sinn Féin are running an SF candidate.'”

Mr. McDowell concluded:

“I did not consider that a face-to-face meeting with Steen would serve any useful purpose, as her Seanad supporters well knew my position.

Suggestions that I was motivated by envy, jealousy, misogyny or other base reasons are simply untrue. For the reasons stated above, I was opposed to her election, which might very well have happened, in my view. It would have been divisive and a step backwards for the kind of Ireland I believe in.”
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mcdowell-says-he-didnt-nominate-steen-because-her-election-would-be-step-backwards-1813744.html