In her pitch to the council, Ms Steen said that as the mother of a young family, she was highly motivated to build up the pro-family values on which Irish society was founded, “and which are given a place of honour in the constitution, and which I know from personal experience to be essential to real human flourishing”.

This, she said, was in contrast to “the NGO-and media-driven consensus that seems to afflict so much of our politics, and which was rejected by the people in the 2024 referenda”.

The council will vote next Monday. Of its 33 members, 9 are Fianna Fail, 6 Fine Gael, 4 Sinn Fein, 2 Labour, 11 independents and one Independent Alliance.

Meanwhile, Irish Times columnist, Fintan O’Toole, has complimented Ms Steen for having “performed a vital democratic function in the equal marriage, abortion and care referendums by being an able, articulate and patently sincere advocate for the conservative side”.

In supporting her bid to be nominated, he said, “Those of us who are secular liberals have always stood against the silencing of minorities and we should do so now. The political system has a duty to let a variety of voices be heard in this contest”.