Presidential Election.

The usual mavericks and me feiners like O'Dea and O'Cuiv always appear at occasions like this .

Usually to show the electorate that they are still alive.

I doubt she's worried about your "concern". You sound wildly jealous. Maria's day will come. This country is crying out for fundamental change. Micheal Martin is on a solo run, fueled by his arrogance. Just look at yesterday's Budget. There has to be a change, the same people are paying for everything and getting nothing. (sorry for going off topic but these things are intertwined)

Hanafin too. Still bitter that FF wouldn't back her last couple of bids to run as a TD.

I don't think this country wants a return to any kind of iona backed fundi stuff, we're still dealing with rcc legacies.

Is anyone able to explain to me the basis on which it is apparently believed that Maria Steen would make a good President or is somehow some kind of President-in-Waiting?

I've only ever seen her become prominent in issues relating to her religious morals where at almost every juncture her views are not only contrary to what Irish people actually believe nowadays but are actually proven as such by democratic referenda. The things she is passionate about are things on which Irish people nowadays by and large completely disagree with her on. She has spoken out against divorce, she was opposed to marriage equality and she campaigned against repealing the 8th Amendment — and it's pretty damn evident that she is misaligned with Irish society on those points.

So what does she actually bring to the table? Catholic morality in a country where people have long ago decided they don't need the Catholic Church to define morality and impose it on others?

Don't get me wrong, she is a good speaker and formulates arguments articulately — but that isn't enough. When the articulate arguments you formulate are predicated on opinions which Irish society has clearly turned away from, I am unsure how this translates well into a tenure as President of Ireland.

it was actually extremely well thought out by dev, and is working perfectly as designed, i.e. to try prevent the extremes from entering office

Anyone still harping for Steen is definitely stuck in some alternate self perpetuating online reality detached from Irish society.

Maybe in a united Ireland she might have got support from the Free Presbyterian base.

How would they be terrible exactly?

The problem with Steen is that, while competent, she's also a bit of a religious extremist. That's a hard sell in Ireland these days, as most people don't share her views.

She also came late to the game, and didn't do her due diligence in sounding it out well before. Running late and expecting help when other have committed elsewhere, well that's on her.

And people who worked with her previously pulled back from supporting her. Not a good sign.

And let's be honest, since she didn't get the nomination, she's behaved like a spoilt little brat with her moaning, complaining and sense of entitlement at times.

So we may have dodged a bullet with that one.