Well known barrister and pro-life campaigner, Maria Steen, has launched a bid to become an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential election and will make a pro-family message central to her campaign.

She will need to be nominated either by 20 members of the Oireachtas or four county councils to appear on the ballot.

Writing in the Irish Catholic, she described the Office of the President as acting “as a guardian of the Constitution, and of the indefinable spirit of Irishness that imbues both that document, and our society”.

She noted that the Constitution rests on certain “fundamental and timeless principles” including “the promotion of the common good, with due observance of Prudence, Justice, and Charity”.

Central to her campaign will be the ones relating to family which, she believes, “should be shared, promoted, and cherished”.

Referring to the overwhelming defeat last year of the attempt “to write women, motherhood and home out of the Constitution” which she herself campaigned against, she vowed to give a voice “to those who feel that the values they cherish are not represented in society – in fact whose values are openly attacked by our political leaders, NGOs and of course the media”.

She wishes to stand for the mothers and the fathers of Ireland, recognising and appreciating their work in serving their families “both in the home and in providing for them through their work outside the home”.