MARIA STEEN HAS said she believes there is a big gap on the right of Ireland politics, which she believes means has left a number of the voting feeling “unrepresented” by political parties.

Yesterday saw a historic united left front of parties ranging from Sinn Féin to People Before Profit help Catherine Connolly receive the most votes and highest vote preference percentage of any president in Ireland’s history.

It has also sparked discussion over how the right of Irish politics may look to work together to achieve similar success in future, with some conservative commentators calling on parties such as Fine Gael to tilt back towards them.

While the incoming president Catherine Connolly won by a historic margin, the election also saw more people than ever spoil their votes – over 200,000 people nationwide.

Steen, who attempted to stand for election but failed to garner enough support from politicians to qualify as a candidate, said the amount of spoiled votes in yesterday’s presidential election is a “big rebuke to the political establishment”.

“I think there’s a lot of people that simply do not feel represented,” Steen told RTE’s This Week programme this afternoon.

“Catherine Connolly had a great victory but when you look at her vote as a proportion of the overall electorate, it amounts to about 25%,” she said.

“That means that there’s an awful lot of people out there who either chose not to engage with this election because they felt there was no point in them doing so, or who voted for somebody else or chose to spoil their votes.”

Steen said she agreed with remarks made by Declan Ganley, a conservative activist and member of the Spoil The Vote campaign, that there is a “massive gap” for voters on the right of the political spectrum.

Steen, a barrister and architect, previously was best known for her advocacy while a spokesperson for socially conservative Catholic organisation, the Iona Institute.

She rose to prominence during the same-sex marriage referendum in 2015, in which she campaigned against same-sex marriage, and later in the 2018 abortion referendum, in which she campaigned against liberalising abortion laws.

‘Early days’ on next election run

Steen said she was “really very grateful and humbled” that some people wrote in her name, including Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín.

Before her short-lived Áras bid, Steen had not taken a public role in recent elections.

Steen said it’s “early days” on whether she will stand again, adding that she’s not planning to contest another election for the time being.

“There isn’t going to be an election for another four years so we’ll see,” she said, referring to when the next general election is currently scheduled to take place.

It appears to have ruled out Steen standing in the Galway West bye-election for Connolly’s soon to be vacant Dáil seat, although that may have been a longshot anyway for the Dublin-based conservative campaigner.

The debate over a potential gap for Irish political parties to move towards arose during a panel debate on RTÉ Radio One this weekend.

Iona Institute director and Sunday Independent columnist David Quinn criticised Fine Gael TD Emer Higgins for “leaving votes on the table” at election time by “ignoring” conservatives.

“I think ultimately society has moved on ad you want political parties to move with society, you want political parties to be reflective,” Higgins told Quinn on Brendan O’Connor’s morning programme.

Going viral on TikTok - This interaction between Minister @EmerHigginsTD and columnist @DavQuinn#aras25 #aras2025 pic.twitter.com/7gn9QvGdII

— David W. Higgins (@higginsdavidw) October 25, 2025

Quinn said that many voters who may have voted for parties such as Fine Gael now don’t vote or choose the “nearest like-minded Independent, or vote for Aontú”,

Ex-Sinn Féin TD Tóibín founded Aontú following disagreements with Mary Lou McDonald’s party over its stance on issues including abortion.